Learning More Amherst

434970.COVER.CS6.indd 1 8/24/13 7:52 AM AT AMHERST, LEARNING HAPPENS FACE TO FACE. The most exciting moments of discovery emerge from one-on-one, personal exchanges: wrangling with an issue during a seminar, investigating a hypothesis in the lab, talking about anything and everything over coffee or dinner. At Amherst, you’ll find these kinds of interactions at every turn—both with your professors and with fellow students. With a low student-faculty ratio (8:1) and small classes, Amherst builds face-to-face learning right into the campus culture—which makes for an uncommonly engaging and satisfying intellectual experience.

434970.COVER.CS6.indd 2 8/23/13 7:12 AM There are at least 1,800 ways to learn at Amherst, every one of them a person with a unique combination of background, intellect and talent. Amherst students are remarkable in both their wide- ranging experiences and in the passion they share for life in and out of the classroom. Whether they come from nearby towns or faraway countries, they will have a significant and lasting impact on the way you view the world.

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Anthropology 10: Exploring Human Diversity Chemistry 11: Introductory Chemistry First-Year Seminar 25: Privacy Spanish 01: Elementary Spanish

Economics 11: Introduction to Economics

Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought 32: Silence and Justice Philosophy 11: Introduction to Philosophy Spanish 03: Intermediate Spanish

SOPHOMORE YEAR

American Studies 11: Changing America Biology 08: The Biology of Catastrophe: Cancer and AIDS

Economics 53: Macroeconomics Psychology 11: Introduction to Psychology American Studies 12: Religion, Democracy & American Culture American Studies 32: Racialization in the U.S.: The Asian/Pacific/American Experience Black Studies 32: Theorizing the Black Atlantic Women’s and Gender Studies 24: Gender Labor

AMINA TAYLOR ’13 SENIOR | DENVER, COLORA DO | AMERICAN STUDIES MAJOR S ENIOR HONORS T HESIS T ITLE: “WHERE HAVE ALL THE MIXED KIDS GONE? T HE STORIES M Y MOTHER NEVER TOLD M E” “It was really comforting for me to go to school and have my professor know my name, know my work, and know my interests and connect to me in that way. To have my professors see me as a person.”

JUNIOR YEAR

Study Abroad: IES Abroad in Grenada, Spain Islamic Art & World and the West The Arab World and the West Intermediate Spanish: Grammar & Usage Images of Women in Mediterranean Film American Studies 112: The City: New Yo r k American Studies 468: Research Methods in American Culture English 318: Childhood in African and Caribbean Literature History 144: Nineteenth-Century America

topic completely outside your usual realm, whether it’s the civil rights movement, poetry, topic completely outside your usual realm, whether it’s SENIOR YEAR

American Studies 498: Senior Departmental Honors

at least 12 years, someone has been telling you what classes need to take. At Amherst, Art and the History of Art 133: Material Culture of American Homes Black Studies 246: Race and Politics in the United States open curriculum has no core or general education requirements. Most majors open curriculum has no core or general Amherst’s Seminar, For opportunity to truly shape your own education. Beyond major and the First-Year have the rare consist of eight to 10 courses toward the 32 needed earn bachelor arts degree, leaving you with roughly two dozen courses to choose as you see fit. So can delve into another interest or explore a environmental science, klezmer music or one of thousands other possibilities. Black Studies 335: Du Bois and After American Studies 490: Special Topics. Biracial Narratives American Studies 499: Senior Departmental Honors AMHERST’S OPEN CURRICULUM Art and the History of Art 102: Practice of Art ENCOURAGES THE EXPLORATION Music 124: Global Sound O F IDEAS IN THE LIBERAL A RTS Note: Amherst College’s course numbering system changed in Fall 2011. TRA DITION.

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First-Year Seminar 15: Secrets and Lies Philosophy 11: Introduction to Philosophy Physics 23: Newtonian Synthesis: Dynamics of Particles and Systems, Waves Psychology 21: Personality Psychology Arabic 02: First-Year Arabic II Computer Science 11: Introduction to Computer Science Mathematics 13: Multivariable Calculus Political Science 13: World Politics

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Arabic 03: Second-Year Arabic I Mathematics 21: Linear Alegbra Political Science 04: The State Political Science 46: Case Studies in American Diplomacy Arabic 04: Second-Year Arabic II Colloquium 33: Advanced Topics in Latin American Political Economy Economics 11: Introduction to Economics Mathematics 28: Introduction to Analysis

TAYLO R GRANT-KNIGHT ’13 SENIOR | MALTA, NEW YORK | MAT HEMAT ICS MAJOR S ENIOR HONORS T HESIS T ITLE: “CAT EGORIZING COMPUTABILITY: A STUDY OF R ECURSIVELY ENUMERABLE D EG REES” “What you learn from one discipline can allow you to think of another discipline in a completely new way. That was a reason why I did a Buddhist studies pro- gram in Kyoto Japan, of all places, as a math major.”

JUNIOR YEAR

Study Abroad: Antioch University Program in Japan Japanese Religions Beginning Japanese Language Practice and Theory of Buddhism Field Research Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought 212: Psychoanalysis & Law Mathematics 450: Functions of a Real Variable Smith College/Philosophy 220: Incompleteness and Inconsistency: Topics in the Philosphy of Logic UMass/Philosophy 514: Mathematical Logic II

SENIOR YEAR

German 101: Elementary German I Mathematics 345: Functions of a Complex Variable Mathematics 498: Senior Departmental Honors Political Science 243: Ancient Political Thought Computer Science 401: Theoretical Foundations of Computer Science Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought 354: The Crisis of Neoliberal Legal Theory Mathematics 350 : Groups, Rings, and Fields Mathematics 499: Senior Departmental Honors AMHERST’S MAJORS OFFER DEPTH IN 37 AREAS. F OR FULL DESCRIPTIONS, SEE PAGE 26.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 3 8/27/13 11:37 AM FIRST YEA R First-Year Seminar 01: The Value of Nature Geology 09: Environmental Science: Global Warming and Energy Resources Philosophy 11: Introduction to Philosophy Psychology 11: Introduction to Psychology Anthropology 12: Social Anthropology Computer Science 11: Introduction to Computer Science I Environmental Studies 12: Introduction to Environmental Studies Geology 11: Principles of Geology Mathematics 17: Introduction to Statistics

SOPHOMORE YEA R Art and the History of Art 18: Photography I Biology 23: Ecology Geology 29: Structural Geology History 27: Global Environmental History of the Twentieth Century Mathematics 12: Intermediate Calculus Economics 54: Microeconomics Geology 21: Surfacial Earth Dynamics Mathematics 15: Discrete Math Psychology 12: Biological Psychology Theater and Dance 13: Action and Character UMass/Geology 591N: Colorado Plateau Field Trip

RISALAT KHAN ’13 SENIOR | DHAKA, BANGLA D ESH ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND GEOLOGY DOUBLE M AJOR S ENIOR HONORS T HESIS T ITLE: “AN AGENT-BASED MO D EL TO SIMULAT E FA RMERS’ DECISIONS ON ADOPTION O F ORGANIC PRACTICES AND EXPLORE THE EFFECTS O F INTERVENTIONS ON LONG-T E RM AG RICULTURAL OUTCOMES” “I don’t want to specialize too soon. I think there’s value to having a broad-based education and learning about a lot of things. Amherst’s open curriculum is a great way to build your knowledge base so you can build higher.” JUNIOR YEA R Economics 420: Game Theory and Application Geology 271: Mineralogy History 357: Environmental History: Ecological Thinking and Practice in Europe, 1500 to the Present Psychology 246: Environmental Psychology Theater and Dance 142H (half-credit): Contemporary Dance Techniques: West African Study Abroad: Lafayette College Program in New Zealand Half Billion Ye a r s on Edge Research Earth Systems Science Coastal and Marine Geography Field Study in Earth Systems Data Analysis

SENIOR YEA R Computer Science 161: Computer Systems I Environmental Studies 495: Senior Seminar Environmental Studies 498: Senior Departmental Honors Mathematics 140: Mathematical Modeling Smith College/Geosciences 232: Sedimentary Geology Copeland Colloquium 331: The Meaning of Catastrophe Environmental Studies 499: Senior Departmental Honors Geology 301: Hydrogeology Sociology 341: Making Peace with the Planet: Environmental Movements and Ideas

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Arabic 01: First-Year Arabic I Chemistry 11: Introductory Chemistry First-Year Seminar 02: Genes, Genomes and Society Russian 01: First-Year Russian I English 02: Reading, Writing and Teaching Russian 02: First-Year Russian II Women’s and Gender Studies 61: Women and Politics in Africa UMass/Astronomy 114: Stars and Galaxies

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Black Studies 11: Introduction to Black Studies Psychology 12: Biological Psychology Russian 03: Second-Year Russian I Women’s and Gender Studies 95: Memory, Haunting, and Migration in Contemporary American Novels by Women Black Studies 64: Research in Black Studies Film and Media Studies 40: Production Workshop in the Moving Image Russian 04: Second-Year Russian II Theater and Dance 31: Playwriting I

EIRENE WANG ’13 SENIOR | SILV E R S PRING, MARYLAND | BLACK STUDIES MAJOR “The summer after my freshman year I interned in South Africa at a summer camp for kids … I became really interested in race relations there, because of South Africa’s long-standing history with issues regarding race.”

JUNIOR YEAR

Black Studies 226: Conceptualizing W hite Identity in the United States Economics 111: Introduction to Economics Kenan Colloquium 424: Giving Russian 301: Third-Year Russian I Black Studies 362: Childhood in African and Caribbean Literature English 490: Novel Writing Political Science 232: Political Economy of Development Russian 302: Third-Year Russian II

SENIOR YEAR

Black Studies 200: Critical Debates in Black Studies Mathematics 130: Introduction to Statistics Russian 401: Advanced Studies in Russian Literature and Culture I Theater and Dance 125H (half-credit): The Craft of Speaking I: Vocal Freedom UMass/FCFL 111H (half-credit): Self-Instructional Swahili I UMass/FCFL 112H (half-credit): Self-Instructional Swahili II Asian Languages and Civilizations 174: Introduction to Modern South Asian History Economics 275: Consumption and the Pursuit of Happiness Russian 304H (half-credit): Advanced Intermediate Conversation and Composition Theater and Dance 225H (half-credit): The Craft of Speaking II: Spoken Expression UMass/FCFL 111H (half-credit): Self-Instructional Swahili III UMass/FCFL 112H (half-credit): Self-Instructional Swahili IV

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 5 8/24/13 6:09 AM EXPANSIVE LIBRARI ES, ADVANC E D SCI ENCE FACILITI ES, BRIGHT AND SPACIOUS R ESIDENCES AND HIKING TRAILS ARE ALL PART OF TH E 1,000-ACR E CAMPUS.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 6 8/23/13 8:05 AM 434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 7 8/23/13 8:05 AM VARIED AND LIV ELY, THE AREA AROUND AMHERST OFFERS A RANGE OF CULTURAL ACTIV ITIES.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 8 8/24/13 6:19 AM Amherst College’s 1,000-acre campus is in Massachusetts, 90 miles west of Boston 89 and 150 miles north of New York City. At first glance it might look like just another quaint New England town, but Amherst is a college town through and through. With five colleges and 30,000 college students in the immediate vicinity, virtually all of the town’s restaurants, stores and entertainment venues cater to the needs of college students.

103 87 93 ME

9 VT 91

NH

95 Albany 2 495 MA 90 Amherst 290 Boston Northampton Worcester South Hadley 95 87 Springfield 3 24

NY 84

RI Providence Hartford New Bedford 95 CT 395 84 91

New Haven NY 95

New York City

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 9 8/23/13 8:06 AM S. Deerfield CROSS-REGISTRATION, RESOUR C ES AND EVENTS AT NEARBY COLLEGES ENLARGE THE AMHERST EXPERIENC E. The Pioneer Valley is home to Amherst and, within 10 miles, four other colleges that collaborate extensively to allow cross-registration—along with the cross-pollination of student groups, events, culture and fun. N. Amherst The Five College Consortium allows you to make the Amherst experience 91 whatever size you want. Like things small? Take all your classes at 116 Amherst. Want a taste of something a little larger? Take a class at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Or go to a big-name concert at the UMass Mullins Center, just a mile away. University of Massachusetts 47 Amherst SMITH COLLEGE

IN BRIEF: Nation’s largest undergraduate women’s college DISTANCE FROM AMHERST: 8 miles (18 minutes) Amherst College STUDENTS: 2,600 undergraduates, 500 graduate students CAMPUS: 125 acres, with a new campus center incorporating a café, Hadley 9 S. Amherst bookstore, mailroom, performance space, 9 fireplace lounge and meeting rooms Smith College RESOURC ES: Botanic Garden and Lyman Conservatory with 8,000 types of plant life; largest college library collection in the U.S. with 1.25 million volumes, including branch libraries in the visual arts, Northampton performing arts, the sciences and engineering; art museum with 25,000 116 pieces, including internationally known French Impressionist paintings EVENTS: International Students’ Bazaar; Otelia Cromwell Day events 66 on issues of diversity and racism; Rally Day, honoring distinguished alumnae for Hampshire College their achievements; Black History Month events; concerts; theater performances; guest speakers; lectures and panels and poetry readings Easthampton 47

MOUNT HO LYO K E COLLEGE IN BRIEF: Liberal arts college for women (oldest in the nation) 100 Mt. Holyoke College nationally recognized as a leader in educating women scientists 202 DISTANCE FROM AMHERST: 10 miles (23 minutes) South Hadley 21 STUDENTS: 2,300 undergraduates CAMPUS: 800 acres with ivy-covered neo-Romanesque and Gothic-style buildings RESOURC ES: Library with 700,000 volumes, recently renovated and expanded music and art facilities, art museum, Japanese teahouse and meditation garden, “green” science center EVENTS: Weekly Poets’ Lounge Spoken Word Open Mic, Something Every Friday, Las Vegas Night, Festival of Diversity, Mountain Day Holyoke

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UNIVERSITY OF MASSAC HUSETTS-AMHERST

IN BRIEF: Large public research university with 9 schools and colleges; nationally recognized programs include chemical engineering, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, linguistics, polymer science and engineering, psychology and business DISTANCE FROM AMHERST: 2 miles (6 minutes) STUDENTS: 21,000 undergraduates, 6,200 graduate students CAMPUS: 1,450 acres, 409 buildings RESOURC ES: More than 5.8 million items in the 28-story W.E.B. Du Bois Library, N. Amherst the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library and the Music Reserve Lab 91 EVENTS: Spring Festival of the Arts, big-name concerts (recent acts include Kanye West, 116 Green Day, Dave Matthews Band) and athletic events at the 10,500-seat Mullins Center

AMHERST COLLEGE University of Massachusetts 47 IN BRIEF: Oldest of the Five Colleges, known for its strong Amherst liberal arts education and excellent faculty STUDENTS: 1,800 undergraduates CAMPUS: 1,000 acres with rolling lawns and classic brick buildings Amherst College RESOURC ES: Frost Library with more than 1.4 million volumes, specialized science and music libraries, Mead Art Museum with 18,000 works, Beneski Museum of Natural History, Russian archives, Hadley 9 S. Amherst 9 17 music practice rooms, extensive athletic facilities and fields, Smith College state-of-the-art science facilities, newly updated studio art space, Folger Shakespeare Library fellowships, Emily Dickinson Museum EVENTS: Casino, Newport Jazz, Homecoming, Harlem Renaissance, Spring Weekend Northampton 116

66 Hampshire College HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE

IN BRIEF: Founded by the other four schools as an experimental approach to Easthampton 47 higher education (first students enrolled in 1970); focus is on independent work with close faculty mentoring DISTANCE FROM AMHERST: 3 miles (8 minutes) 100 STUDENTS: 1,500 undergraduates Mt. Holyoke College CAMPUS: 800 acres RESOURC ES: The Farm Center (a working farm and research facility dedicated South Hadley 202 21 to sustainable agriculture), National Yiddish Book Center and Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (both independent of Hampshire but located on campus) EVENTS: QCA Drag Ball, Spring Jam, Eqbal Ahmad Lecture

Holyoke

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 11 8/23/13 8:06 AM MORE THAN 140 STUDENT GROUPS AND 27 INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORTS FILL THE AMHERST CALENDAR WITH CONCERTS, GAMES, LECTURES, FILMS AND MORE.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 12 8/23/13 8:07 AM 434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 13 8/23/13 8:07 AM F ROM 48 STAT ES AND 55 COUNTRIES, THE STUDENTS HERE SHARE THEIR DISTINCTIVE BACKGROUNDS, INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCES. You’ll find that Amherst students are involved and engaged in many worlds—academic, athletic, musical, political, dramatic, and more. Many of their interests overlap and intersect. So it’s not unusual to meet an English major who’s fascinated by physics and mountain biking. Or a basketball player who loves philosophy. Or a computer whiz who plays saxophone and flute and has decided to learn piano. Amherst provides the opportunities: You can double major, try a new instrument, play two (or three) varsity sports or become editor of a journal. Not because it’ll look good on your résumé, but because you truly enjoy it—and the opportunity is there.

MELISSA ULLOA

SOPHOMORE

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE DOUBLE MAJOR

Co-chair, Chicano Caucus Member, La Causa Member, College Democrats Participant, Urban Education Internship (at public middle school in the Bronx, New Yo r k)

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 14 8/23/13 8:09 AM JEAN-ROBERT ANDRE

SOPHOMORE

NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK

FRENCH AND SOCIOLOGY DOUBLE MAJOR

Member, executive board, Pride Alliance Member, Haitian Awareness Club Member, Men’s Project Member, Amherst College Diversity Coalition Former member, fencing team (club sport)

TAELA B ROOKS

JUNIOR

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

PSYCHOLOGY AND THEAT ER AND DANCE DOUBLE MAJOR

Founder and co-chair, Amherst College Figure Skating Club Choreographer and dancer, Amherst Dance Choreographer and dancer, DASAC (Dancing and Stepping at Amherst College) Member, Black Student Union

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years of theirearning degree, five to study. advanced about 80 of percent Amherst graduates go on Within

STUDENTS L EAV E AMHERS T SMARTER, MORE CONFIDENT, MORE CURIOU S ABOUT THE WORLD. No matter what you study, once you graduate from Amherst you’ll dive into a world of possibilities with an insatiable love of learning, the ability to think creatively, the confidence to live life fully and, we hope, an urge to share your talents with society. Amherst’s motto, Terras Irradient, “Let them give light to the world,” reflects what many of our alumni do, whether they’re in the national spotlight—as Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel laureates or National Book Award winners—or finding ways to make an impact on society as teachers, scientists, artists, businesspeople, Peace Corps volunteers or parents.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 17 8/24/13 6:39 AM CHOOSING COURSES IS AN INTELLEC T UA L ADVENTURE: THERE ARE 850 COURSES AT AMHERST AND ANOTHER 5,000 THROUGH THE FIVE COLLEGE CONSORTIUM.

434970.P01.18.CS6.indd 18 8/23/13 8:15 AM 434970.DIV 1.CS6.indd 1 “ what Iwouldbestudying.” the fact that Ihadtositdown andactually thinkabout gettoexplore. Ireally like parts ofbeinghere—you make myowneducational decisions. That’s oneofthebest was onthetopofmylist. The collegetrusted meto The opencurriculum isoneofthemainreasons Amherst AN YA R ARK PA | SENIOR | ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE DOUBLE MAJOR 8/26/13 7:01 PM

LEARNING academic culture 19 faculty 21 open curriculum 22 study-abroad and off-campus experiences 25 areas of study 26 AV E RAGE CLASS SIZE: 16

C LASSES WITH FEWER TH AN 30 STUDENTS: 88%

ACA DEMIC FACULTY HOLDING DOCTORATE/TERMINA L DEGREES: 99%

STUDENT-FACULTY RATIO: 8 :1

FIRST-YEA R A DVISEES ASSIGNED TO INDIVIDU A L FACULTY: 7 at most

FULL-TIME INSTRUCTIONA L FACULTY: 211

facts MAJORS: 37

COURSES: 850

STUDENTS WITH DOUBLE M AJORS: 35%

earning AMHERST STUDENTS WHO T AKE A FIVE COLLEGE COURSE: 50%

AV E RAGE NUMBER OF FIVE COLLEGE COURSES T AKEN BY AMHERST STUDENTS: 2 L STUDENTS WHO STUDY ABROA D OR OFF C AMPUS: 40% {STUDY-ABROA D PROGRAMS AVAILABLE: 240+

434970.DIV 1.CS6.indd 2 8/26/13 7:01 PM academic culture faculty open curriculum study-abroad and off-campus experiences areas of study LEARNING 19

academic culture At Amherst, ideas don’t just bounce around. They ricochet. They careen. They zoom. If paths of learning left visible trails, you’d see lines wiggling and shooting and crisscrossing among students and professors, reaching out from Amherst all over the world. Even if you can’t see this intellectual interplay, you can hear it—over a lunch table, where students are talking Buddhism and ethics; in every corner of campus in the weeks leading up to a controversial lecture; in the basketball locker room, where they’re discussing politics again. The buzz is sometimes intense, sometimes lighthearted—and always interesting. And you haven’t even stepped into a classroom yet. That’s the point here at Amherst: learning, discussion, debate and AMHERST’S HONOR CODE conjecture aren’t limited to a predetermined time. This is Students and professors value Amherst’s commitment to intellectual free- simply what it’s like to live and learn at one of the country’s dom and rigor. So as cheating and plagiarism on campuses nationwide best liberal arts colleges. increasingly made headlines, Amherst’s student-led College Council decided This atmosphere draws some of the world’s most accom- to develop an honor code for Amherst. plished faculty and brightest students from 48 states, 55 countries In 2004, the student body and the faculty voted on and approved the and all kinds of backgrounds and experiences. One thing all Honor Code, whose three statements cover intellectual responsibility, free- Amherst students share is a love for learning. With professors dom of expression and respect for others. In an Amherst Student editorial, who challenge and encourage, classmates who enlighten and Association of Amherst Students President Ryan Park pointed out that the Honor Code allows students to “hold ourselves accountable and maintain support, and a curriculum that ofers freedom, the pursuit of the standards of honesty and integrity that provide the foundation for ideas reaches new levels here. this college’s academic mission.” The Honor Code, he added, promotes “students’ ownership and control over their own academic experience.” New students are required to sign the Honor Code.

434970.P19.32.CS6.indd 19 8/23/13 9:08 AM COURSE

Reading, Writing and Teaching

PROFESSOR: Karen Sánchez-Eppler, professor of American studies and English STUDENTS: 11 (from first-year to senior) SCHEDULE: 10–11:30 a.m., Tuesday and Thursday, plus time tutoring or teaching in local schools {LOCAT ION: Clark House, Room 100 }

Christianna Bonin and her 10 classmates straddle two worlds of learning. In one world, they gather in a seminar room on campus, reading, discussing and writing about a range of approaches to education—everything from the formal home- schooling of 19th-century philosopher John Stuart Mill to the learning of Maori children in New Zealand in the mid-1900s. In the other world, they’re on the opposite side of the desk, teaching and tutoring in a public school classroom in a nearby economically struggling town—not so they learn to teach, but so they can experience firsthand the challenges and triumphs of education. This was one of Amherst’s first courses to incorporate community-based learning. As Professor Karen Sánchez-Eppler says, it’s a chance to put theory into practice. And it’s what drew Christianna Bonin, a sophomore psychology major, to the class. “I heard from a friend that it was life-changing,” she says. “It makes you really reflect on your own education—and it changes the way you learn.”

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“Professors really do give you their home number. They’ll set up an the faculty appointment with you or meet you Ask current students or graduates about the highlights of their time at Amherst, and invariably they’ll tell you stories about for coffee. They’ll read drafts of their professors. your paper.” Sydney Smith, a junior, calls her philosophy professor “an amazing teacher. You leave class and your head hurts. You’re TALIA BROWN | SENIOR | ECONOMICS | EDITOR OF THE AMHERST STUDENT always thinking. The discussions are great.” Of one professor Christian Wilson, a senior, says, “I was in his oGce every day. The research of Amherst professors appears in journals He got me interested in math.” Sara Spink, a junior, says her the world over. You’ll see their names on the op-ed and news fine arts teacher “articulates things about the drawing process pages of The New York Times. You’ll hear them on National in a way that’s easy to understand. He loves what he does and Public Radio. They are award-winning authors and acclaimed he wants you to love it, too.” artists and journal editors. Among the faculty are National What makes the faculty so inspiring? They ask tough, Institutes of Health grant recipients and Pulitzer Prize winners. probing questions. They ofer alternate points of view. They Their scholarship fills their teaching with excitement and force you to look more closely at your own assumptions. And energy. A professor’s research can expose you to new ways of while their teaching is built on a solid liberal arts foundation, thinking, while your ideas can shift the slant of your professor’s they’re always striving to develop better and more innovative research. Whether they’re studying U.S. history or schizo- ways for you to learn and discover. phrenia, French literature or virtual memory systems, Amherst It also helps that everything at Amherst revolves around professors draw you into their research. Students are regularly the undergraduate experience. There are no graduate students listed as co-authors on articles; they go to national conferences here. The average class size is 16 students, and 88 percent of to present findings of their work. classes have fewer than 30 students. It’s not unusual for, say, No matter how high-profile their work is or how many the head of the neuroscience program to teach a First-Year awards they’ve won, Amherst professors always have time for Seminar with a dozen students—and to hold class over break- you—as teachers, advisors and mentors. To encourage this fast at his house. kind of interaction, Amherst keeps the student-faculty ratio As leading scholars and researchers in their fields, profes- low (8:1). Professors advise no more than seven first-year sors are attracted to Amherst for many of the same reasons students at any given time. When choosing your courses, you’ll students are—to be surrounded by interesting, articulate peo- meet face to face with faculty advisors, so you can talk things ple in a supportive community where discovery is encouraged out, consider other options or change your mind. and where facilities rival those at research universities. Conversations go beyond course selection or that week’s assignment. You might drop in at a professor’s oGce to talk about an upcoming a cappella performance or how last night’s

434970.P19.32.CS6.indd 21 8/23/13 9:09 AM 22 LEARNING academic culture faculty open curriculum study-abroad and off-campus experiences areas of study

TV show relates to some philosophical theory. This is not just the open curriculum idle chit-chat. Knowing you, your needs and your interests An Amherst education doesn’t dictate; it evolves with your makes Amherst faculty better teachers and better advisors. interests. There is no core curriculum. There are no general This all feeds into a strong sense of community. Many education requirements. You can pick and choose freely faculty members live within a few minutes of campus, which among courses of every shape and color and context. makes it easy for them to invite students over for dinner. Or Amherst encourages you to explore new areas, to investi- for students to babysit their professors’ children. Or for four gate a topic in great depth, to try something you wouldn’t or five students to take their professor out to dinner downtown have considered in high school. There’s the computer science through the college’s TYPO (Take Your Professor Out) program, major who took Performance and saw an opera for the first which pays for the meal. time—and loved it. And the student who thought she was going to study political science until she took a couple of biology FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS courses—and went on to earn a biology degree. When it comes to sifting through the dizzying array of The scholarly interests and accomplishments of Amherst’s faculty members range courses—850 at Amherst and 5,000 more through the Five widely. A few examples: College Consortium—professors and advisors ofer guidance. • Ilán Stavans, professor of Spanish, is the author or editor of dozens of books on topics ranging from Spanglish and Latino identity to Sephardic literature and They will encourage you to take a broad range of courses to popular culture. The host of PBS’s La Plaza, he is also the editor of the four-volume help you better understand—or question—the world, perhaps Encyclopedia Latina and the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. by learning another language or about another culture, by • Allen Guttmann, professor of English and American studies, is the author of a exploring history, by taking courses that give your abstract widely used history of women’s sports that has been published in a number of reasoning or your creativity a vigorous workout. Ultimately, languages, including, most recently, Chinese. though, the choice is up to you. • Richard Goldsby, professor of biology, founded Hematech, a company pioneering You might choose to take an advanced course with juniors the development and production of antibodies to prevent and treat various diseases. and seniors in your first year (although some advanced classes He and his Hematech colleagues have produced four cloned calves that make human do have prerequisites). Or you might take an introductory antibodies. class your senior year, just to expose yourself to something • Lewis Spratlan, emeritus professor of music, a longtime Amherst professor and widely f regarded performer and composer, won the Pulitzer Prize for Life is a Dream, Opera completely di erent. Whatever the class, you’ll know that in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version, which had its premiere at Amherst. The opera’s everyone else there chose it freely, which makes discussion libretto was written by James Maraniss, professor of Spanish. that much more interesting and lively.

434970.P19.32.CS6.indd 22 8/23/13 9:09 AM {faculty profile}

KANNAN JAGANNATHAN

BRUCE B. BENSON ’43 AND LUCY WILSON BENSON PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS

R ESEARCH/SCHOLARLY INTERESTS: My background is in high-energy theoretical physics, particularly elementary particle theory. I served as the assistant editor of the American Journal of Physics from 1995 to 2001. Since that time the focus of my scholarly interest has been on problems that may not be solved easily but that are deeply interesting to me, such as the foundations of quantum mechanics and General Relativity.

WHY MY SCHO LARLY INTEREST MATTERS: Physics tries to understand the behavior of matter at all levels but particularly in terms of its smallest constituents. That exploration is a continuing story going back to the early days of atomic theory. Today we have a description of all matter and forces called the standard model which is amazingly successful in accounting for all observations. However, almost every physicist thinks that serious modifications of the standard model are inevitable. There is considerable excitement that within a few years, new data will force us to revise our basic picture of matter. College students now beginning their foray into the subject will have plenty of fundamental problems to tackle if they continue in this field.

WHY MY STUDENTS CA LL ME “JAGU”: I’ve always been called “Jagu.” So when I came to Amherst in 1981, that’s how I introduced myself to students. It’s just simple—like Madonna or Beyoncé. But I came before them.

IF I COU LD MEET ONE OF HISTORY’S GR EAT PHYSICISTS: Actually, there are two. Faraday and Maxwell, the 19th-century physicists who developed electromagnetic field theory. Their work required a kind of imagination that went beyond appearances to posit unseen things. That’s an aspect of physics that sometimes people outside the field may not be aware of. It’s not as if the material world is given and then you just go and poke around and find things. Like Faraday and Maxwell, sometimes you have to formu- late what it is that the world is composed of before you can study what it does.

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NICOLA COURTRIGHT

PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF ART

R ESEARCH/SCHOLARLY INTERESTS: I publish on art and architecture in t he 16th and 17th centuries in Italy, France and the Netherlands.

WHY THIS RESEARCH MATTERS: Often the way we look at art is saddled with prejudices about aesthetics alone, and I’m impatient with that....My research always tries to overturn the usual way of looking at the art I care about, to give my readers fresh eyes.

FAVO RIT E ART W ORK AT AMHERST’S MEAD ART MUSEUM: Naum Gabo’s modernist sculpture of 1965–66 (Vertical Construction No. 2 [The Waterfall]), because of its remarkably delicate fusion of the ineffable (a web of lines twisting almost invisibly in space) with the physical (machine-like wires surrounding a metal cut-out interior). I’ve spent hours with students looking at this work and I never get tired of thinking about it.

I KNOW I’VE MADE A DIFFERENCE FOR MY STUDENTS W HEN: They go abroad and write me that they saw the art we talked about in class and it was even more fabulous in person than they expected.

HOBBY T HAT W OULD MOST SURPRISE MY STUDENTS: Gardening, I suppose, because they probably don’t think of me as a person who likes to kneel reflec- tively in the dirt. But if they are observant when they come to my house (as many do, since I invite them over all the time), they can see how I like to order nature with my own hands, not just talk about how artists do it.

B EST THING ABOUT BEING AT AMHERST: Teaching and talking to my students about everything under the sun.

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ORIGINAL WORK THE CREATIVE W RITING CENTER Learning to write well requires more than writing courses. That’s the thought Overall, aboout 50 percent of Amherst students write theses during their senior year; behind Amherst’s Creative Writing Center. The interdisciplinary center’s faculty over 60 percent of students majoring in the natural/physical sciences complete a members—who come from a range of departments, from English to Spanish to thesis. The thesis offers the opportunity to do advanced work in the form of a major Theater and Dance—believe that the best writing education happens not only paper, scientific research or an artistic creation such as a dance or musical piece. through writing courses, but also through reading and learning in other disci- Here are a few representative thesis titles: plines. So while Amherst doesn’t have a major in creative writing, the center offers • Art: “A True Brazilian: The Glorification of Candido Portinari and National Identity” writing courses, workshops, readings, discussions and class visits with practicing (Silvia Sabino) writers and editors. Many of Amherst’s departments also offer the opportunity for • Biology: “Obtaining Catalytic Antibodies Using Phage Display” (May C hien) a creative writing honors project. To find out more about the Creative Writing Center, go to www .amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/cwc. • Economics: “The Use of Inflation Targeting in Latin American Countries” (Jonathan Edwards) the first-year seminar • English: “Talking Funny: Comedy and Communication in Kingsley Amis’s Prose” (Benjamin Wieder) The First-Year Seminar is the only course required of all new • Geology: “Acicular Calcite Texture: Aragonite Pseudomorphs on Syros Island, Greece” students. It introduces you to the Amherst way of learning, (Jessica Driscoll) discussing and writing papers. But even here you have more • History: “Development and Assimilation: The History of Immigrant Muslims than 25 courses to choose from, a number of them team-taught in St. Louis” (Faraz Ahmad) by professors in diferent disciplines. The courses change every • Interdisciplinary: “Markets of Morality, Vulnerability and Social Justice: year, depending on the interests of the faculty. Recent ofer- The Allocation of HIV / AIDS Prevention and Treatment Resources” (Kyle Legleiter) ings include: • Physics: “Initial Conditions in Bohmian Mechanics” (Michael Reed) • Thought Experiments in the Development of Physics • Psychology: “The Effects of Gender and Retention Interval on Autobiographical • Secrets and Lies Memory Narratives” (Katie Bukrinsky) • The Value of Nature • Russian: “Plato, Tolstoy and the Truth: Tolstoy’s Literary Adaptations of Plato’s • Genes, Genomes and Society Theories of ’Memories,’ ’Death’ and ’Love’” (Ethan Alexander-Davey) • Gender and Science • Theaterand Dance: “The Journey of a Family: The Creation and Production of • The Unseen Universe TORN” (Ann MacRae) • Friendship • Mind and Brain • Africa: Power and Representation • Evolution and Intellectual Revolution ence or physics, Amherst can be an ideal place to study the sci- ences. Classes are small, which means more time with professors. studying at amherst With no competition from graduate students, you have opportu- Amherst ofers the bachelor of arts degree in 37 fields of study nities to use sophisticated lab equipment (such as the 400 MHz in the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities—plus nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, the ion chromato- the possibility of creating your own interdisciplinary major. graph or laser systems for atomic and molecular spectroscopy) About 35 percent of Amherst students double major. (For a and to assist faculty with research projects. Many science stu- list of majors and descriptions, see page 26.) dents spend summers at Amherst, working with a professor on If you’re interested in biology, chemistry, geology, neurosci- research that may become a senior thesis.

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the economic history of the united states: colonial period through the civil war PROFESSOR: Daniel Barbezat, professor of economics STUDENTS: 27 SCHEDULE: 2–3:20 p.m., Monday and Wednesday { LOCAT ION: Seeley Mudd, Room 207 } Professor Daniel Barbezat begins class sitting sedately behind his desk, start- ing into a routine review for Monday’s midterm. But soon he’s up out of his chair, he’s hopping down the step, he’s walking the room. Sleeves rolled up, long hair pulled back in a ponytail, he can’t contain his enthusiasm over the distinctions among diferent types of colonial-era trade. His excitement is contagious. Students nod with understanding. They ofer their own points. They ask questions. They laugh at his jokes. It’s this easy rapport with students that helped win Professor Barbezat the outstanding teaching prize from the Economic History Association. He reminds students that on the upcoming exam, he’s less interested in having them spout specific data from the journal articles they’ve read (there’s no textbook in this class), and more interested in seeing how they make connections between topics they’ve discussed. “I want the exam to be like a cool obstacle course,” he says.

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“ I received a grant from Amherst that allowed me to travel anywhere in the world for the purpose of writing. I went down to Grenada

this summer and spent two weeks recording Outside of the United States, Amherst students can choose the oral history of my mother’s family’s from more than 240 study-abroad programs. About 40 percent immigration from India in the 19th century.” of students, typically juniors, spend a semester or year living and learning in countries including Senegal, Argentina, India, SARAH BASS | JUNIOR | ENGLISH New Zealand, England, Spain, France and Egypt, in addition to Japan, where Amherst has a special relationship with Doshisha For students studying science, mathematics, economics or University, founded in 1875 by an Amherst graduate. psychology, the Moss Quantitative Center ofers a comfortable place to study, along with tutoring and review sessions. In addi- FIVE COLLEGE CONSORTIUM tion to professional staff, the peer tutors are well prepared to Amherst students can make their academic—and social—experience as big provide valuable help: they attend class lectures just so they can or as small as they want. Within 10 miles of Amherst are four other institutions of be familiar with how the professor presents the material. higher learning: Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, and the University Because ideas are only as good as the way they’re commu- of Massachusetts at Amherst. That makes for fertile intellectual ground. The Five nicated, courses throughout the curriculum emphasize oral and Colleges have an open agreement that allows students to choose from among the written skills. For feedback on a first draft of a paper, head to the 5,000 courses at the other institutions—without paying additional tuition. More than half of Amherst students use this opportunity, taking an average of two Writing Center, where some of the best writers on campus and a classes at the other campuses during their four years. Five College students also staff of professional writing counselors can ofer suggestions on come to Amherst, enriching class discussions with their perspectives. f how to improve it. Your professors, too, will o er constructive As a Five College student you can take advantage of libraries on all the campuses criticism, which will sometimes run as long as the paper itself. (with a remarkable total of more than 8 million volumes and 3.7 million other items), as well as eight museums (including the National Yiddish Book Center, several study-abroad and off-campus experiences art museums and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art), a high-caliber radio telescope and other unique academic resources. A free bus system makes travel Beyond the Amherst area, you have the opportunity to study among the five institutions easy. at a variety of institutions, from the National Theater Institute By combining resources and strengths, the Five Colleges are able to offer other unusu- and the Mystic Seaport Program in Connecticut to Amherst’s al opportunities to undergraduates (you can take intensive Ki-Swahili or Hindi, video own Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., a premier production or volcanology, for instance). Two joint academic departments, Astronomy research, educational and cultural center, which holds the and Dance, offer more breadth and depth than any one of the colleges could indepen- world’s largest collection of the Bard’s printed works. Through dently, and the Dance department is one of the largest in the nation. Fourteen certifi- the Twelve College Exchange program, Amherst students can cate programs are also available, including African Studies; Architectural Studies; Asian/Pacific/American Studies; Buddhist Studies; Culture, Health and Science; undertake residential study at Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dart- Ethnomusicology; International Relations; Latin American, Caribbean and Latino mouth, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley and Studies; Logic; Middle Eastern Studies; Native American Indian Studies; Queer and Wheaton Colleges and Wesleyan University. There’s also a five- Sexuality Studies; Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; and Sustainability year dual degree program, leading to both a bachelor of arts Studies. For more information on the consortium, go to www.fivecolleges.edu. degree from Amherst and a bachelor of engineering degree from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering.

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areas of study in America, social construction of identity, racial and the making of art are inseparable endeavors. www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments and ethnic politics in America, and the politics of Facilities include a fine arts library, a comprehen- immigration. sive collection in the Mead Art Museum, large, AMERICAN STUDIES well-equipped studios and the Eli Marsh Gallery for ARCHITECTURA L STUDIES student exhibitions. Seminars on specialized topics, 11 faculty members (1 shared with Art and the 6 faculty members (5 associated with other depart- visiting artists, visiting lecturers and trips to major History of Art, 3 with History, 2 with Sociology, exhibitions enrich the opportunities for students. 3 with English, 1 with Black Studies and 1 Five ments, including History of Art, American Studies, College joint appointment in Asian/Pacific/ European Studies, French, German and History; ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS American Studies) 1 Five College appointment in Architecture and Design), plus two contributing faculty from Asian 9 faculty members (3 shared with History, 1 with FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Consequences of travel Languages and Civilizations. Anthropology and Sociology, 1 with Music; 1 with for American artists; representation of Native FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Material culture and Art and the History of Art), 4 lecturers and 3 affil- Americans in mid-19th century; history of censor- iated faculty ship; history and material culture of 17th- and 18th- domestic architecture; social, cultural and histori- century New England; immigration; race/gender cal forces affecting the transformation of architec- FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: West Asian history; West and Latino issues in urban sociology; the reciprocal tural styles; representation of architectural space; Asian anthropology with a special focus on Turkey; influences of culture and the environment. digital design; effects of architecture on the living Islam; South Asian anthropology; South Asian ethno- environment; private and public memorials; archi- musicology; South Asian religion with a special DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Amherst was among the first tectural representation of the urban imagination. focus on Buddhism; pre-modern and modern colleges in the country to establish a program in DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The newest of Amherst’s inter- Chinese history; late imperial and modern Chinese American Studies. Introductory courses are taught literature and Chinese cultural studies; early-modern by faculty from five different departments. Majors disciplinary majors, the Five College Architectural Studies program firmly places the study of architec- and modern Japanese history; early modern and are required to examine some aspect of American modern Japanese literature; Japanese art history society or culture in a senior essay. ture in the liberal arts by encompassing the history, theory, philosophy, design, and science of the built with a special focus on Buddhist and contemporary art; Japanese linguistics; Japanese language; ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY environment. The major draws on resources and faculty from a range of disciplines across the colleg- Chinese language. 8 faculty members (4 anthropologists, 4 sociologists) es, which include art history, cultural studies, histo- DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Amherst sponsors the FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Symbolism; ritual; ry, literature, economics, urban studies, visual and Associated Kyoto Program, a two-semester inequality; globalism; food systems; medical- media arts, gender studies, physics, sociology, and study abroad program at Doshisha University psychiatric anthropology; culture and mental ill- environmental studies. With the guidance of their in Kyoto, Japan. At Amherst, there are multi- ness; religion and healing; theories of subjectivity; Amherst FCAS advisor, Amherst students create an media classrooms for language teaching, drill Islam; family; Latino/s studies; environmental individualized course of study that may include, rooms for lan guage practice and a reading room. sociology; social change; social organization; social among others, sustainable design, urban planning, The department hosts a language table. Arabic stratification; political sociology; social psychology; and architectural history, theory, and criticism. is also offered through the Five College Middle collective behavior; identity; mass media and infor- Eastern Studies Certificate Program. mation technology; race and ethnicity; Melanesia; ART AND THE HISTORY O F ART Cameroon; West Africa; Southern Africa; Middle 10 faculty members ASTRONOMY East; Turkey; Latin America; South Asia. FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Painting; sculpture; 1 faculty member at Amherst; 23 in the Five College DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Our anthropologists are printmaking; photography; medieval art; the Astronomy Department involved in field research in Africa, India, the Renaissance; Dutch and Flemish painting; the FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Amherst Professor George Middle East and Oceania, working on projects 18th century; modern art; American art; African Greenstein is a theoretical astrophysicist who has about gender, the political economy of food, the art and Japanese art. done research on cosmology and neutron star struc- cultures of capitalism, transnationalism, youth ture. He is the author of three books on science for cultures and public health. Our sociologists are DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Students are introduced to major documents, historical periods and artists the layperson and one textbook. He is currently involved in projects about the social construction designing software for teaching astronomy online. of nature, the workings of social class, the causes in Art 1 and to the studio issues of pictorial and and consequences of philanthropy, the politics of sculptural construction in Art 2. Advanced courses DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The Five College Astronomy drug use and drug control, right-wing movements emphasize the belief that the study of art history Department allows students the benefits of a first-

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CAROLINE GOUTTE

PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY

I TEACH AT AMHERST B ECAUSE: I spent 10 years training at top-notch scientific institutes, but I am truly a liberal arts person at heart—I love art and dance, and spent much of my childhood in France and Japan. T his small and diverse campus allows me to keep those interests alive while still pursuing my scientific interests.

R ESEARCH INTERESTS: Molecular mechanisms of cell communication. My primary research approach is genetics, and I use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system.

WHY THIS RESEAR CH MATTERS: Our development and daily life are dependent upon the ability of our cells to interact with one another. When proper communication is impeded, disaster can strike. For example, one of the genes I study causes early-onset Alzheimer’s disease if it is defective.

I KNOW I’VE MADE A DIFFERENCE FOR MY STUDENTS W HEN: They can see the big picture and they begin to ask questions that are in fact the topics of current research projects around the world.

BEST THING ABOUT B EING AT AMHERST: The students. They are interesting people—not one of my science students could ever be described exclusively as a “science nerd.”

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WILLIAM TAUBMAN

BERTRAND SNELL PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

R ESEARCH/SCHOLARLY INTERESTS: My specialty is Russian politics, but thanks to Amherst’s emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, I’ve expanded my range. For example, I love the colloquium I teach with psychology professor Amy Demorest, on Personality and Political Leadership.

FIRST THING I DID WHEN I HEARD I WON THE 2004 P ULITZER FOR BIOGRAPHY FOR KHRUSHCHEV: THE MAN AND HIS E RA: Answer umpteen calls from reporters and friends and relatives.

W HY THIS RESEARCH MATTERS: Khrushchev is a classic case of a leader whose character had a decisive effect on his time and ours, but the approach I used to understanding his story can be applied to other leaders in other countries, includ- ing our own.

FAVO RIT E SPOT IN R USSIA: Red Square in Moscow, because when I stand in that vast cobblestoned space, I’m present at the place where so much of what I’ve studied, taught and written about occurred.

I GET READY TO TEACH A CLASS BY: Doing the same reading I’ve assigned to my students, and by trying to figure out how best to present the material clearly and make it come alive. Since most of my classes are small enough to allow conversa- tion, I don’t prepare lectures, but rather a series of questions that I hope to help the students answer in the course of discussion.

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rate liberal arts education in a small college and chromatographs, tissue culture facilities, two 400 MHz Fourier transform nuclear magnetic association with a research department of inter- greenhouses, animal care facilities, walk-in envi- resonance spectrometer; computer-controlled national stature. ronmental rooms and a student computer room. A fluorescence, microwave, far-infrared, infrared, wildlife sanctuary is adjacent to the campus. ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy; X-ray diffrac- BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS (BCBP) tometer; mass spectrometers; computer graphics 10 faculty members and 1 visiting faculty (all are as- BLACK STUDIES and molecular modeling; fully computer-inter- sociated with other departments, including Biology, 9 faculty members (2 shared with English, 2 with faced teaching laboratory; thermogravimetric Chemistry and Physics) History, 1 with American Studies, 1 with Art and analysis; single molecule fluorescence microscope. FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: dynamics and mechanics the History of Art, 1 with Religion, 1 with Anthro- C LASSICS of protein function; enzymology; kinetics and pology and Sociology, and 1 with the Mellon Fellow thermodynamics of protein folding; organization, Program) 4 faculty members and 1 visitor asymmetry, and fusion of cell membranes; trans- FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Nigerian art and culture; FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Greek and Roman epic, port; genetic, biochemical, and chemical analysis of nineteenth-century African-American history; historiography, and lyric poetry; Greek tragedy; cell-signaling pathways; cell-cell communication Caribbean and African literature and culture; Hellenistic literature; Greek and Roman history; and specialization in development; nucleic-acid women in Africa and the African diaspora; African- Greek archaeology; Greek and Roman religion; biochemistry; synthetic organic and bioorganic American religious history; African and African- comparative literature. chemistry. American Education; African political economy; DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The curriculum offers a wide DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: One of Amherst’s interdisci- West African chiefdoms and the post-colonial range of courses in the languages and literatures, plinary majors, BCBP integrates the principles state. history, archaeology, social practices and religions of chemistry, physics, and mathematics to explain DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Courses encompass Africa, of ancient Greece and Rome. The major program and explore biological phenomena. Following the United States, Brazil, the Black Atlantic, and emphasizes mastery of the ancient languages and completion of a common set of six introductory the Caribbean and Black Diasporas. Majors provides a broad perspective of life in the ancient courses, students choose either the biophysical are encouraged to participate in field work such Mediterranean. track, focusing on computational and physical as course-related work in local communities, approaches to studying biological problems, or research and participation in communities else- COMPUTER SCIENCE the biochemical track, emphasizing the tools and where in the United States, or study and work 4 faculty members principles of molecular biology and biological abroad (e.g., in sub-Saharan Africa or the chemistry. Caribbean). FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: algorithm analysis; experi- mental methodology; theoretical computer science; computational complexity; artificial intelligence; BIOLOGY C HEMISTRY natural language processing; memory management; 11 faculty members (2 shared with Neuroscience) 8 faculty members operating systems. FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Social and reproductive FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Synthesis of enzyme DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Facilities include a specialized behavior and physiology; plant sexual systems and inhibitors; synthesis of inorganic-organic hybrid library and newly-renovated computer labs featur- evolution; sexual dimorphism and pollination biol- materials; molecular recognition in biological sys- ing a 24-hour lab for majors, a lab for introductory ogy; evolutionary genomics and disease biology; tems, creation of artificial enzymes, and design of courses and a circuit design lab. Majors may work cellular neurobiology and visual physiology; muta- novel organic “molecular imprints”; atmospheric with faculty on summer or in-semester research, tion and antibody diversification; genetic analysis chemistry of volatile organic compounds; fluores- which sometimes lead to theses and publications. of cell-signaling mechanisms; fertilization; cell- cence spectroscopic analysis of protein-protein An Association for Computing Machinery student specific gene expression; plasma membrane lipid and protein-nucleic acid interactions; microwave chapter sponsors events. bilayer function. spectroscopic investigation of molecular binding; DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Lab equipment in the McGuire infrared spectroscopic characterization of the ECONOMICS Life Sciences Building includes a confocal micro- geometries and energetics of weakly bound molec- 10 faculty members ular complexes; single molecule fluorescence scope, compound microscopes equipped with FACULT Y INTERESTS INCLUDE: Economic history of the epifluorescence and microinjection equipment, a microscopy of dynamic processes in proteins and other folding polymers. U.S. and Europe; economic development and flow cytometer, ultracentrifuge, scintillation count- economic growth; game theory; law and economics; er, spectrophotometers, high-performance liquid DISTINCTIVE FEAT UR ES: Lab equipment includes health economics; environmental economics; labor

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undergraduate summer science research PROFESSOR: Patricia O’Hara, Amanda and Lisa Cross Professor of Chemistry and Dean of New Students STUDENTS: 4 SCHEDULE: Summer months, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday; group meeting every Friday afternoon {LOCATION: Professor O’Hara’s lab, Merrill Science Center, Room 505} On a late June afternoon, Jackie Watson checks the yeast cells she’s growing for her senior honors research involving the estrogen receptor. Nearby, labmate Jean Santos is reading up on biochemistry for his thesis on alpha crystallin proteins in the eye. “What’s cool,” Santos says, “is that this work may have applications for treating cataracts.” Raysa Cabrejo, a rising sophomore and a recipient of a fellowship from the Dean of the Faculty’s office to conduct research during the summer, is getting acquainted with the lab’s equipment, which includes a custom-built single molecule spectrometer. The group’s elder is Jørgen Walker Peterson, who just graduated with a double major in chemistry and music. He’s received a prestigious postbaccalau- reate award to expand his thesis work on the interactions of a second signaling molecule, calmodulin, with the estrogen receptor. The common element—so to speak—linking these students is Patricia O’Hara, a widely published professor of chemistry who also teaches in Am- herst’s interdisciplinary program in biochemistry and biophysics and serves as dean of new students. Her research focuses on fluo- rescence spectroscopy of macromolecules; another specialty, as hundreds of Amherst alumni can attest, is mentoring a new genera- tion of scientists in the O’Hara lab. “In research, we work as part- ners challenging and pushing each other to create new knowledge,” says O’Hara. “It’s a privilege to bear witness to the transformation of a student into a colleague.”

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economics; economics of education; microeconomic ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES theory; macroeconomic theory; economics of the 21 faculty members (each associated with a tradition- Approximately 20 faculty members (each asociated public sector; monetary economics; open-economy al department: Geology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, with a traditional department: American Studies, macroeconomics; international trade; economics Sociology, Mathematics, Philosophy, Economics, Art and the History of Art, Asian Languages and of institutions; finance and econometrics. History, Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Civilizations, English, German, History, Law, DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: A dedicated computer lab for and Psychology). Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Music, Russian, majors and thesis writers offers a range of eco- FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: the evolution of plants; the Sociology, Spanish, Women's and Gender Studies) nomic databases and software. A large network of influence of environmental change on the reproduc- FAULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: cinephilia; digital Amherst alumni work at leading financial firms, tive success of birds and fishes; the co-evolution of cultures; feminist approaches to media; film businesses, non-profit organizations, research plants and pollinators; water quality and ecological and authorship (including Pedro Almodovar, institutes, and academic institutions. There are dynamics; analysis of some of the earliest of life forms Clair Denis, Alfred Hitchcock, Ida Lupino, opportunities to conduct research with faculty in the geological record; atmospheric chemistry and Wong Kar-Wai); film and the law; genre study members and funding for summer fellowships global climate change; mathematical models of envi- (including romantic comedy, melodrama); at research institutions such as the Brookings ronmental dynamics; the economics of resource use; history of censorship; national and global Institution and the Federal Reserve Board. The the politics of environmental policy; environmental cinemas (Chinese, German, Indian, Japanese, department does not offer business courses, ethics; the history of the interaction between culture Spanish, France); narrative video production; although many majors pursue business careers. and environment. photography; popular culture; race and cultural DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: One of Amherst’s many inter- studies; sociological and historical approaches ENGLISH disciplinary majors, environmental studies is the to media representations; television studies; 18 faculty members (1 shared with Russian, 2 with only major that spans the entire curriculum. theories and histories of sound production; video Black Studies, 2 with American Studies, 1 with Students in environmental studies are expected and performance. Women’s and Gender Studies) and 4 visitors to be as engaged in the sciences germane to under- DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The Film and Media Studies FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Old English; Chaucer; standing the environment as they are in the philosoph- Program situates the study and practice of the Renaissance poetry and poetics; Renaissance drama ical and social policy underpinnings of environmental moving image in its aesthetic, technical, and socio- and theatrical practices; 18th-century fiction and thinking. We encourage our majors to take advantage cultural dimensions within a wider history of satire; Romantic poetry; Realism and Modernism; of a growing number of summer and interterm oppor- media. The program integrates formal, historical contemporary British fiction and poetry; postcolo- tunities to engage in field research, environmental and theoretical analysis with various forms of cre- nial literature; Caribbean literature; modern African education, or work with environmental NGOs. ative and production experience in its required literature; 19th- and 20th-century American litera- core courses. In courses in critical studies and ture; ethnic American literature; African-American EUROPEAN STUDIES production, we explore the practice of constructing literature; American Indian literature; modern and Advisory committee of 32 faculty members (all moving images through considerations of narrative, contemporary poetry; comparative literature; sports shared with other departments: History, Art and the non-narrative and experimental structures, camera history; gender studies; childhood studies; feminist History of Art, English, Religion, Political Science, motion, editing techniques, music and sound studies; queer studies; film; literary theory; cultural French, Spanish, Russian, Classics, Economics, design, mise-en-scène, and digital technologies. history; the writing of poetry; and the writing of German) The dual emphasis on study and practice allows the fiction and nonfiction. historical, theoretical, compositional and aesthetic FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: A wide variety of disciplines issues to illuminate each other and thus to allow DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The college’s ownership of the and approaches to the study of European cultures. students to engage with both the depth and breadth Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst and the Folger DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The program stresses the of media production and analysis. Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., provides interrelatedness of the liberal arts. Majors are students with unusual opportunities for indepen- required to spend at least one semester in Europe, F RENCH dent research. For more on creative writing, see typically during the junior year, and to write a sen- Creative Writing Center (page 23). 7 faculty members ior thesis. FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: In addition to the intro- ductory and intermediate language sequence, the department ofers courses in all the major periods and genres of French literature and civilization, as

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well as Francophone literature of the Caribbean, DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Students can choose a German LATIN See Classics. film and theory. All members of the department are literature or German studies track. They can live active, publishing scholars. in (and can take advantage of) the German theme LAW, JURISPRU D ENCE AND SOCIAL THOUGHT DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: In majors and enrollments, residential house and attend weekly lunch tables, (LJST) Amherst has one of the most successful under- coffee breaks, a film series, lectures, recitals, con- 5 faculty members and 1 long-term visitor certs and field trips. There is a generously subsi- graduate programs in French language, literature FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Philosophy of law; and culture in the country. Eighty percent of majors dized exchange program with Göttingen University. All courses use interactive teaching technologies American legal institutions; jurisprudence and study abroad in a Francophone country. Amherst society; legal and cultural history; legal geography; has two post-graduate exchange programs in and an extensive audio-visual collection (videos, DVDs and CDs). global legality; international humanitarian law; France and each year has three French teaching trials; cultural and psychoanalytic approaches to assistants. law; law and social identity. GREEK See Classics. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The department places the GEOLOGY HISTORY study of law within the context of a liberal arts 5 faculty members education, offering courses that treat law as a his- 17 faculty members (4 shared with American FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Metamorphic phase equi- torically evolving and culturally specific enterprise Studies, 3 with Asian Languages and Civilizations, libria; argon and U/Pb/Th geochronology; rock in which moral argument, distinctive interpretive 2 with Women’s and Gender Studies, 2 with Black deformation; development and evolution of moun- practices and force are brought to bear on the Studies) tain belts and subduction zones; electron beam organization of social life. These courses use legal microscopy of rocks and minerals; organic and FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: African-American history; materials to explore conventions of reading, argu- trace element geochemistry of fresh and hyper- free speech and censorship in U.S. history; urban ment and proof, problems of justice and injustice, saline ground water; geomicrobiology; digital history; history of education; the French Revolution, tensions between authority and community, and paleobiology; paleoecology of early metazoan and European expansion and empire in the nineteenth- contests over social meanings and practices. microbial communities. century; Russian history; medieval Europe; gender and sexuality in Early Modern England and Europe; DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The department occupies a MAT H EMATICS legal history; the European Enlightenment, 1680- new, state-of-the-art Earth Sciences and Museum 1780; Nazism and 20th-century Europe; Mexico 8 faculty members of Natural History building where samples, maps, and Latin America; pre-modern and modern FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Infinite abelian groups; publications, computers, microscopes and cutting- Chinese history; pre-modern and modern Japanese topological groups; arithmetic geometry; number edge analytical instruments are fully integrated and history; the history of the Arab Middle East; Israel, theory; dynamical systems; game theory; mathe- where lectures, labs and research are unified. The Iran, Turkey and Central Asia; South Africa; matical modeling; algebraic geometry; history and department covers solid-earth and environmental Caribbean history; the American West and Southwest; philosophy of mathematics; statistics (nonpara- subdisciplines, and engages in fieldwork across science, medicine and technology; comparative metric statistics, convariance estimation); logic; North America and abroad. colonial policy; early American history; Native and probability. GERMAN American cultures; the antebellum South; the his- DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The department offers a broad tory of women in the U.S.; the history of Islam; curriculum in pure and applied mathematics and 3 faculty members, 1 senior lecturer, and 2 teaching environmental history; indigenous politics; the statistics. Majors occasionally work with faculty assistants Black Atlantic; Brazil; comparative slavery; public on summer research projects, which sometimes FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Interdisciplinary cultural history; American visual culture; nation and state lead to journal publications. The Mathematical studies (history, political science, film, visual arts, formation. Association of America student chapter sponsors architecture, new media, music, theater, popular DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The libraries and archives of the many events, and there is a weekly informal lunch culture, etc.); medieval through contemporary Five College Consortium include a variety of special for math students and faculty. literature and culture; narrative theory; women’s collections. Financial support for students writing studies; utopias in literature; exile studies; dance honors theses is available from the G. Forest Gillett MUSIC theater; performance studies; intellectual history; Fund. Informal thesis writing seminars are held 4 full-time and 3 part-time faculty members German-Jewish issues; Weimar culture; post-War throughout the year. The department’s lounge FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Music composition; Germany, East and West; unified Germany; multi- offers a quiet place to study, hold get-togethers 20th-century music; music of Bartók, Beethoven, culturalism. and have meetings.

434970.P19.32.CS6.indd 30 8/23/13 9:12 AM {faculty profile}

ALLEN HART ’82

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

I CAME BACK TO TEACH AT AMHERST BECAUSE: The balance between research and teaching is valued here. Amherst faculty are doing the same quality of research as professors at any university or college in the country, but there’s a better balance between excellence in teaching and excellence in research.

WHY I TEACH: It’s the immediacy of it. Your teaching can change with the research. Yo u can teach the same course every year, but the content changes because of new discoveries and new articles to talk about. So it’s very exciting.

I GET READY TO TEACH A CLASS BY: Putting on a Miles Davis CD.

R ESEARCH INTERESTS: I have two lines of research I’ve focused on the last several years. One deals with psychology and the law. I also deal with issues related to race. My colleagues and I looked at neurological activity involved with the pro- cessing of racial information and found that a part of the brain is more active for a longer period of time when exposed to individuals from a different racial group.

A DVICE FOR F I RST-YEAR STUDENTS: Don’t retreat. What I love about first-year students, especially during Orientation, is that they’re willing to take risks, to say “Hi, what’s your name?” If there were a way to harness and maintain that risk-taking, they would be more open to new people and new experiences.

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MARGARET HUNT

WINKLEY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY AND P ROFESSOR OF WO M EN’S AND GENDER STUDIES

R ESEARCH/SCHO LA R LY INTERESTS: I’m currently working on two books. One is a general history of women in 18th-century Europe. I’m also partway through a book on gender and the British Navy during the period of the military revolution (roughly the late 17th and early 18th centuries). My other big current scholarly interest is women and the law.

WHY T HIS RESEARC H MATTERS: I like research that overturns misconceptions about women’s agency (or lack of it) in the past. The topic of European women in the 18th century matters because too many textbooks still tend to portray women in “olden times” as having been so beaten down that they were barely human. I try to tell a much more nuanced story.

HOW M Y TEAC HING INTERSECTS W ITH M Y SC HOLARSHIP: I often bring to class early modern manuscript sources that I’ve gathered from the college archives. Students have trouble reading the old handwriting, but they seem to like them.

T IM E P ERIOD I’D MOST LIKE TO VISIT: I would like to spend some time in late 17th-century London, probably in the eastern parishes like Wapping, where sailors and their families lived.

BEST T HING ABOUT B EING AT AMHERST: The Five Colleges. It’s amazing to have so many wonderful colleagues spread across five institutions.

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Bach, Mozart, Janáˇcek; opera; music and religion; DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The department has a very national and international distinction who range in anthropology of music; music, human rights, and active speaker series. In 2006, it inaugurated political outlook, from post-Marxism to liberalism cultural rights; music in post-socialist Europe and “The Amherst Lecture in Philosophy,” a prestigious to conservatism. One won the Pulitzer Prize for Eurasia; world music; electronic music; music of the lecture series associated with a new on-line journal, his biography of Nikita Khrushchev; another classical and romantic eras; musical performance. www.amherstlecture.org. The department also recently delivered a lecture to the Supreme Court; DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: The department is musical organized and maintains www.askphilosophers.org, a third has won a Fulbright Fellowship and a Ford performance-oriented with a symphony orchestra, a website that allows anyone to ask philosophical Foundation Grant; a fourth is a journal editor. various chamber music groups, concert choir, questions and have them answered by dozens of Many have served as consultants to government women’s chorus, men’s glee club, jazz ensemble, professional philosophers from around the world. and non-governmental organizations. madrigal singers, world music performances, and participation in the Five College Early Music Program PHYSICS PSYCHOLOGY and Five College world music ensembles, as well as 7 faculty members 9 faculty members (1 shared with Women’s and opera performances. A number of courses combine FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Bose-Einstein condensates Gender Studies) and 2 visitors musical performance with academic study. (BEC); experimental condensed matter physics; FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Emotion; personality; low-temperature physics; single-molecule environmental psychology; identity; social identity; NEUROSCIENCE nanomagnets; atomic and molecular spectroscopy; social class; social psychology of race; attitudes and 6 faculty members (all are associated with other fundamental symmetries; lasers; precision stereotypes; lifespan development; gender issues; departments, including Biology, Psychology and measurements; chaos and non-linear dynamics; cross-cultural psychology; social psychology; Chemistry) foundations of quantum mechanics; optics; particle health psychology; close relationships; history FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Neural mechanisms of physics and high energy theory. of psychiatry; autobiographical memory; melody feeding behavior; control of aggression and other DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Equipment includes an appara- identification; feeding; gustatory neurophysiology; social behavior in fish and birds; molecular and tus for the production of BEC, a physical properties obesity; pharmacological animal models of schizo- cellular basis of plasticity in the visual system; measurement system for investigating materials phrenia. control of neural excitability; psychobiology of down to 1.8 K, a variety of lasers and vacuum systems, DISTINCTIVE FEATURES:The department asks its majors early development and aging; history of psychiatry; high sensitivity optical magnetometers, and a down- to study and link many areas of psychology, ranging animal models of schizophrenia. conversion apparatus for the study of quantum from the social to the physiological. The McGuire DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Established in 1973, the program optical efects. Life Sciences Building houses state-of-the-art was the first undergraduate neuroscience program facilities, including a new behavioral research lab. in the country and features modern research and POLITICAL SCIENCE Students and faculty often collaborate on projects teaching facilities. Students are strongly involved in 10 faculty members (2 shared with Women’s and leading to joint publication in professional journals. research. The program is rigorous, but ofers flexi- Gender Studies, 1 with Law, Jurisprudence, and bility for students to choose electives emphasizing Social Thought) plus 1 Five College professor and R ELIGION molecular, cellular, pharmacological, physiological 2 Karl Lowenstein (research) Fellows 6 faculty members (1 associated with Black Studies, or behavioral approaches to the study of the brain. FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: U.S. Constitutional law; 2 with Asian Languages and Civilizations, 1 with politics, religious nationalism and social movements European Studies) PHILOSOP HY in Asia; Asian and Asian-American women; femi- FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Religious ethics; Christian 6 faculty members and 1 visitor nism and gender movements in the United States thought in the modern West; Christian scriptures FACULTY INTERESTS INCLU DE: Epistemology; meta- and abroad; American political thought and culture; and Christianity in late Antiquity; American and physics; philosophy of science; philosophy of lan- contemporary political theory; U.S. foreign policy; African-American religious history; Hebrew scrip- guage; philosophy of mathematics; philosophy of international relations and international law; global- tures and classical Judaism; South Asian Buddhism; mind; ethics; Kant; feminist philosophy; ancient ization; Soviet and post-Soviet politics and foreign Islamic studies; religious art; women and religion; philosophy (in particular, Plato and Aristotle); policy; comparative European politics; capital pun- early and oral literature. political philosophy; philosophy of law; philosophy ishment in law, politics, and culture; Latin American DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Students have opportunities to of music. politics; democracy and development. study both specific religious traditions and the gen- DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Faculty includes scholars of eral nature of religion. Covering cultures of the

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East and West, ancient and modern, the depart- SOCIOLOGY DISTINCTIVE FEAT URES: Facilities include Kirby ment approaches its subject from the perspec- See Anthropology and Sociology. Memorial Theater, Holden Theater, and dance, tives of history, the social sciences, textual studies, design and performance studios. For the senior project, required of all majors, students present theology and philosophy. S PANISH work as author, director, choreographer, designer 3 full-time faculty members, 2 senior lecturers, RUSSIAN and/or performer; write a critical, historical, lit- 1 lecturer, and 3 teaching assistants erary or theoretical essay; or submit a design 7 faculty members (1 shared with English, 1 senior FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Writing of fiction; transla- portfolio or an original playscript mentored by lecturer, 1 emerita) and 1 part-time visitor tion of Spanish literature; writing of essays; modern the faculty or an outside professional. FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Modern Russian literature; Latin American literature; Latino literature of Russian poetry; literary theory; Russian women North America; Caribbean literature and culture; WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES writers; Soviet and Russian film, literature and Spanish literature of the Golden Age; Spanglish; 7 faculty members (1 shared with Psychology, 2 visual arts; Russian cultural studies; novel epics Jewish-Hispanic relations; Latino music. with History, 2 with Political Science, 1 with and national narratives; comparative Russian and DISTINCTIVE FEAT URES: Spanish House and La Casa are English, 1 with Classics) American literature and culture. both residential options. There is a weekly Spanish FACULTY INTER ESTS INCLUDE: Acquisition of gender; DISTINCTIVE FEAT URES: The Amherst Center for Russian table and a language lab. The department also hosts women and the law; representations of sexual Culture houses more than 20,000 books, periodi- an annual film festival. violence; gender and sexuality in ancient Greek cals, manuscripts and works of art. Scholars from and modern literature; transnational women’s Russia and elsewhere use the archives and give T HEAT ER AND DANCE activism; race, class, and gender formation in lectures on campus. Most majors spend a semester 5 faculty members and 4 technical staff members at early modern Europe and the Middle East; in Russia. The Russian House is a residential option, Amherst and 16 faculty members in the Five College American women’s history. and there is a weekly Russian table and Russian tea. Dance Department The campus receives Russian TV on the broadband DISTINCTIVE FEAT URES: Women’s studies research and network. A number of Amherst graduates teach FACULTY INTERESTS INCLUDE: Acting and directing; con- course oferings in the Five College Consortium Russian literature and history in major universities temporary dance techniques; choreography; play- are among the broadest in the world. Along with and colleges or work actively as journalists, diplo- writing; dramaturgy; theatrical set and costume core requirements, students design their own mats, and international entrepreneurs. design and theory; dramatic literature; videography; interdisciplinary course of study. Many also take performance art; mime; lighting design; technical part in internships in local social-change organi- direction. Faculty are working artists with ongoing zations. AR EAS O F STUDY professional careers in addition to their teaching.

www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments American Studies, Anthropology, Architectural Studies, Art and the History of Art, Asian Languages and Civilizations, Astronomy, Biochemistry and Biophysics, “Amherst College is committed to learning through close Biology, Black Studies, Chemistry, Classics, Computer Science, Economics, English, Environmental Studies, colloquy and to expanding the realm of knowledge through European Studies, Film and Media Studies, French, Geology, German, Greek, History, scholarly research and artistic creation at the highest level. Latin, Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Its graduates link learning with leadership – in service to the Mathematics, Music, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, college, to their communities, and to the world beyond.” Russian, Sociology, Spanish, Theater and Dance, Women’s and Gender Studies AMHERST COLLEGE MISSION STATEMENT You’ll find an interactive listing of all Amherst courses online at www.amherst.edu/course_scheduler

434970.P19.32.CS6.indd 32 8/23/13 9:12 AM 434970.DIV 2.CS6.indd 1 “ U.S. andinothercountries.” 40 membersat are Amherst and chaptersacrossthethere Now year at Amherst with fivechildren’sfor fighting people, rights. first my in could survive. SoIstarted Youth Action International the blazing African sun trying tosellgoodsso their families In mynativeIsaw Liberia, children spend longdays under KIMMIE WEE K S | SENIOR | POLITICS AND HISTORY DOUBLE MAJOR 8/26/13 7:02 PM

LIVING AT AMHERST campus culture 33 student groups 36 community engagement 38 athletics 42 residence life 44 weather 46 434970.DIV 2.CS6.indd 2

Living at amherst facts { STUDENT I I ORGANIZATION STUDENT D L I B AS AF E MALE/FE COUNTRIE E STAT STUDENT NTRA NTER THNI CAU NTERNATIONAL (NON- NTERNATIONAL ATINA/O: I- OR MULTI- OR I- ID NOT IDENTI NOT ID RI IAN- C C S M C OLLEGIATE OLLEGIATE Y/ T I REPRE C URAL AND AND URAL A AN- M S S S S AM : ALE DI ALE IAN, WHITE: WHITE: IAN, W REPRE R 1,800 A AM HO LIVE ON ON LIVE HO ERI 12% C S E/ ENTED: ENTED: ERI C R S B AN: AN: A F S TRIBUTION: TRIBUTION: S A C C Y: C ENTED: ENTED: PORT AN, AN, LUB LUB C IAL: IAL: KGROUND: 12% 9% 48 plus D.C., P.R., D.C., V.I. plus 48 40% B S S S C 6% U LA : PORT : A .S. 55 140+ 27 M C PU K: 1 /49% 51% C S ITIZEN S : 11% : 20 99% S ): 10% 9/3/13 5:47 AM campus culture student groups community engagement athletics residence life weather LIVING AT AMHERST 33

Amherst students work hard. They participate Campus Culture broadly and intensely. They embrace their intellectual life with determination, and then direct that same energy and dedication to the rest of their lives—whether that means editing a political journal, playing in a band, tutoring kids—or all of the above. They lead and take part in more than 140 student groups— and start new ones to reflect their wide-ranging interests. THINGS TO DO: WATCH A FREE MOVIE, They participate in 27 varsity sports and 20 club and intramu- COMPLIMENTS OF T HE STUDENT GROUP ral sports. They volunteer with schools, hospitals and non- FLICS. SHOW OFF YOUR ACTING SKILLS profit organizations. They sing and play and compose music AT AN OPEN AUDI TION AT ANY ONE like students at no other small liberal arts college—nearly half OF T HE FIVE COLLEGES. CHECK OUT the student body does something music-related during their T HE ACT ION IN T HE K EEFE CAMPUS four years. CENT ER, W HERE YOU MIGHT FIND S TU- DENTS PRACT ICING T HEIR JUGGLING, ACT IVISTS COLLECT ING PETIT ION SIGNATURES OR PEOPLE LINED UP TO MAKE WAX CASTS OF T HEIR HANDS.

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interesting, involved students Who are these students who do so much? Categorizing them is impossible. Amherst’s 1,800 students come from inner cities, suburbs and small towns all over the country and from more than 50 countries around the world. They’ve graduated from public schools and private academies; they’ve been home- schooled. They represent a broad mix of races, ethnicities, reli- A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF AMHERST gions, economic backgrounds, political persuasions, sexual

orientations, tastes and sensibilities. In ways big and small, HOW EVENTS STACK ED UP DURING ONE WEEK IN OCTOBER:

their varied experiences and backgrounds enrich discussion, • 9 lectures: Nobel Prize winner discusses economic policy, former commissioner broaden learning and make life at Amherst more interesting. of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration talks about tobacco and health policy, Through their interests and involvement, students shape Argentinian artist reflects on her work, Pulitzer-Prize winning history scholar campus life. They start student organizations, plan events talks about war, legal scholar talks about constitutional norms, editor of the Weekly Standard and dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government explore and organize conferences for other college students around the “America in the World,” Latin American author speaks about Pablo Neruda country. Student senators, not college administrators, deter- and Octavio Paz, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans talks about mine how a quarter-million dollars is distributed among the inclusion in the Republican Party, panel of religious experts discusses Catholic student groups. Students sit on most campus committees and take life on campus part in searches for faculty members and administrators. • 1 reading: Writers lê thi diem thúy and May-lee Chai read from their works • 2 art exhibits: “The Pain of War” with media images addressing the suffering of war, and “East Asian Art” with Japanese woodblock prints

• 1 political debate: Between College Republicans and College Democrats

• 4 film screenings: A French film, an Academy Award nominee for best documentary, a Japanese live-action film and a lesbian coming-of-age movie

• 4 concerts: Vocal concert with the Concert Choir, Women’s Chorus, Men’s Glee Club and Madrigal Singers; Amherst Orchestra presents two concerts with works by Gershwin, Tchaikovsky and Britten; Five College Early Music Program presents Halloween Concert

• 1 theatrical production: Senior project, Books and Water

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 34 8/26/13 7:20 PM a full calendar of events The lectures, readings and film screenings alone cover every discipline and every day of the week. It’s not unusual to have two, three, even four lectures or readings to choose from in one day. And when you include the events open to all students on the Five College campuses, a typical day might include 12 lectures, five theatrical productions, three concerts, MUSIC two films and six art exhibits. (To see what’s going on this week,

Even though no one uses it anymore, Amherst’s old nickname, “The Singing see the Five College calendar at www.fivecolleges.edu/events.) College,” still applies today. There are six a cappella groups, plus Concert Choir, Women’s Chorus and Glee Club. Students who aren’t singing find other ways to make music—close to half the student body is involved in music-related groups. With more than 70 student members (and no hired professional musicians), Amherst’s orchestra is the only one of its size among liberal arts colleges. Other musical groups perform chamber music, jazz, Javanese gamelan music and South Indian music. Even professors get into the swing of things with occasional jam sessions in downtown Amherst. Arms Music Center on campus has 17 prac- tice rooms, an electronic music studio and a 500-seat recital hall that hosts performances by student and visiting artists throughout the year.

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STUDENTS CAN PURSUE JUST ABOUT ANY INTEREST THROUGH THE CAMPUS GROUPS LISTED HERE AND THROUGH GROUPS AT THE FOUR OTHER COLLEGES IN THE AREA. BECAUSE THERE’S ABOUT ONE GROUP Student Groups FOR EVERY 15 STUDENTS AT AMHERST, LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ARE PLENTIFUL. AT HLETIC, SOCIAL, RECREATIONAL Amherst College Anime Club Amherst College Mountain Bike Team Amherst College Outing Club Amherst College Quiz Bowl Team Amherst Breakdance Crew Amherst Equestrian Team & Riding Club Amherst Film Collective Argentine Tango Club Badminton Team Bonsai Botany Club Chess Club Crew (men’s and women’s) Cricket Club Culinary Club Fencing Club Fun Police Mindfulness & Meditation Club Mixed Martial Arts Organization Ping Pong Club Quidditch Rugby (men’s and women’s) CULT U RAL AND RELIGIOUS Sailing Team African and Caribbean Students Union Ski Team Affirmations: African-American Worship Series Swing and Ballroom Dance Club Amherst Christian Fellowship Ultimate (men’s and women’s) Amherst College Hillel WAMH 89.3 FM (student radio station— Amherst College Newman Club listen in at wamh.amherst.edu) Amherst Multifaith Council Water Polo (men’s and women’s) Amherst Koinonia Church Asian Culture House Asian Pacific American Coalition Asian Students Association Black Students Union Chinese Awareness Organization Drew House (African-American culture house) French House German House Gospel Choir International Students Association Italian Club Japan Club Korean Students Association La Casa (Latina/o culture house) La Causa (Latina/o organization) Muslim Students Association Russian House South Asian Student Association

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 36 8/26/13 7:20 PM POLITICS, GENDER ISSUES, A DVOCACY, SUPPORT AND SERVICE A Better Chance Tutoring AC Emergency Medical Services AC LU@AC Active Minds (mental health awareness) Amherst College Democrats Amherst College Men’s Project (gender issues) Amherst College Republicans PUBLICATIONS Amherst Feminist Alliance The a cappella The Amherst Element (science publication) Amnesty International The Amherst Student (student newspaper) Amherst Political Union Zumbyes go back 50 Clef Notes (music publication) Association of Amherst Students (student government) Frame (visual arts publication) Big Brothers/Big Sisters years, while groups The Indicator: Amherst’s Journal of Social and Bill of Rights Society Political Thought Change for Change The Olio (yearbook) Debate Society such as the Amherst Prism Magazine (features magazine) Educate! Res Publica (undergraduate law journal) El Arco Iris Tutoring/Youth Arts Project Breakdance Crew Thoughts of Amherst (student academic work) Girls, Inc. (mentoring) Global Rights of Women FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS formed in the past Green Amherst Project Amherst Dance Habitat for Humanity Bluestockings (a cappella) year. It’s all up to the Homeless Connect Concert Choir MASSPIRG Dancing and Stepping at Amherst College (DASAC) students. Microfinance Club DQ (a cappella) Mock Trial Association Glee Club Model United Nations Gospel Choir Peer Advocates of Sexual Respect Jazz Ensemble Peruvian Education Initiative Madrigal Singers Pipeline Project (middle school tutoring) Marsh Arts House Pride Alliance (campus LBGTQA group) Mr. Gad’s House of Improv Pre-Business Group Orchestra and Chamber Music Public Health Collaborative Route 9 (a cappella) Random Acts of Kindness Sabrinas (a cappella) Reader to Reader Terras Irradient (Christian a cappella) Student Health Educators Women’s Chorus Students Take Action Now: Darfur The Zumbyes (a cappella) Taking Action Against Domestic Abuse The Roosevelt Institution The Women’s Center Women in Technology & Science Women of Amherst Yo u t h Action International

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Community Engagement adding new dimensions to learning For Amherst students, involvement in the world beyond academics is an essential part of life and learning. Through partnerships with community organizations, the Center for Community Engagement helps ensure that an Amherst education prepares students to combine theory with practice in ways that engage the world around them. Amherst students are exploring the impact of economic change while working at a food bank. They’re studying Emily Dickinson’s poetry while designing an exhibit on her work for a local museum. They’re developing new leadership skills in workshops with elected officials and social entrepreneurs. In addition to making a difference for others, such efforts add depth and complexity to the way students see the world and themselves. Through community work, they witness a range of life experiences, individual strug- gles and societal challenges. They bring these insights into their academic STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND THE COMMUNITY work at Amherst and into their lives after college. From its home in the Keefe Campus Center, the CCE supports a vari- Many of Amherst’s student organizations are involved in events or ety of courses and programs that enable students to analyze social issues on going programs that make a difference. They look to the Center for Community Engagement for ideas and support. A few examples: with professors in the classroom, interact with community leaders in many • The Green Amherst Project encourages environmentally sustainable professional fields and explore future careers in public service with the policies and habits at Amherst and increases student awareness of help of Amherst’s network of alumni. and action regarding climate change. Amherst professors are collaborating with the CCE to incorporate • Through the One Village Program, students travel to Sierra Leone each community-based learning into their courses. Students in Reading, summer to provide economic development support to communities devastated by the “diamond wars” of the late 1990s. The One Village Writing and Teaching spend three hours a week tutoring at a local public Program is run by Jeff Hall ’86, who volunteered with the Peace Corps high school or Adult Basic Education center. Collaborative Art: Practice in Sierra Leone after graduating from Amherst. and Theory of Working with a Community allows students to collaborate • Each academic year, nearly 100 students tutor with the Vela Scholars with groups outside the art world to create work that explores the roles of Program, a partnership between Amherst College and the Amherst artists, community and audience. As one faculty member put it, “Work in Public Schools that supports the academic achievement of middle school students. Each summer, the same program allows 10 Amherst the community makes it possible for theoretical conversations to become students to work for four weeks as assistant teachers, coaching aca- both more urgent and more complex.” demic skills and leading enrichment programs. “We expect a lot from Amherst students,” says CCE Director Molly Mead. “We ask them to make a real contribution toward meeting a com- munity need, and then we challenge them to analyze that contribution within the context of the classroom.” For more information about the Center for Community Engagement, visit www.amherst.edu/academiclife/cce

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 38 8/26/13 7:20 PM OSCAR BA EZ

SOPHOMO RE

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

POLITICAL SCIENCE

ON COMMUNITY SERVICE: “I think the word “service” fails to give justice to someone’s engagement in community work because it implies a one-way street. Community service is giving your time to participate in a reciprocal relationship to help others in areas where they are actually in need; most often, you actually get more out of it than you give.”

ON T H E TEL EMENTO RING P ROGRAM: “I think it’s admirable that Amherst is piloting this initiative to reach out to underprivileged students without expectation of increased enrollment or direct insti- tutional gain. After getting paid to eat pizza and learn about SATs and FAFSA all over again, I was ready and trained to help three low-income high school students cope with the stress, confusion and intimidation of the college application and financial aid process. As a first-generation immigrant with a similar socio-economic background, I was more than willing to help. I explained to several parents who didn’t know English community engagement what the actual process entailed, and orientation trip helped my mentees with their essays and applications. My two seniors were accept- During Orientation, Amherst offers incoming ed early to Harvard and Stanford, and my students the chance to take part in a three- junior is prepping for SAT IIs now.” day, three-night community engagement trip ON SERVICE AND T H E C LASSROOM: “Amherst to Holyoke, an urban community 15 miles from discussions stimulate your mind on issues like campus. During the day, students might sort food or poverty, class, race and, for me as a Political Science major, how they are reflected in public policy. clothing donations at a community center, provide street Community work has allowed me to see how these outreach support for social justice groups, paint houses or help same issues affect real communities, and my experi- out at an organic farm that provides produces to food banks. ences have sparked equally heated discussions as Evenings include workshops with local leaders; visits to commu- those in the classroom. More importantly, I have nity projects; and discussions on topics such as poverty, welfare learned practical skills like how to lead an educa- reform, youth empowerment and public school inequality. One tional workshop with 30 screaming kids or how to communicate with leaders of an organization to student observed, “The general atmosphere of that first Amherst assess the needs of a particular community. I also experience—one charged with forceful honest discussion and an learned how to make Flubber, which has yet to come enthusiastic desire to act—has pervaded the rest of my time at up in my Politics of Extremism course.” Amherst.”

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community engagement leader program The Community Engagement Leader Program is a unique oppor- tunity for Amherst students to serve as liaisons and leaders of student groups working with local community organizations. Community Engagement Leaders (CELs) share responsibility for all aspects of operations of these student community pro- grams, for on-campus relationships and for ongoing efforts to strengthen the culture of community engagement at the College. Training and reflection sessions give CELs the background necessary to provide effective leadership. Regular workshops enhance their understanding of the rights, privileges and duties of citizenship in a diverse democracy. These student leaders are forming strong professional relationships with individuals and organizations; they’re bringing the best of Amherst to our com- munity partners and returning to campus with new skills and a greater understanding of the world around them. CELs also help facilitate campus-wide recog- nition of the connection between commu- nity work and academics. Through the program, which is typically completed over four semes- ters, students strengthen their skills in research, delegation, time man- agement, mediation, public speaking and active listening. They form com- mittees that focus on activities such as teambuilding and active citizenship.

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Among the growing number of Amherst courses with community-based learning components, two—Regulating Citizenship and Historical Perspectives on Criminal Justice and the U.S. Economy—stand out. The courses, taught by professors Kristin Bumiller and Martha Saxton, are part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which partners college students (“out- side students”) in courses with incarcerated indi- viduals (“inside students”). The classes meet weekly at the nearby Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction. Regulating Citizenship asks a fundamental question: How do we decide whether to include or exclude individuals from the rights and privileges of citizenship? Histor- ical Perspectives on Criminal Justice and the U.S. Economy explores the nation’s history of incarceration and the changing philosophies that have given it direction. public service internships Amherst students in both courses report that the opportunity to engage the lived experi- Breaks between academic semesters offer ence of inside students gives discussions a the opportunity for more intensive com- unique depth and significance for all. “The per- munity engagement experiences. The spectives of the inside students made real for me not only the penological history,” said one student, Center for Community Engagement’s “but also theories and ideas I had encountered Citizen Summer Program funds students’ in other Amherst courses.” Another said, “Our summer work with nonprofits and commu- readings took on a whole new meaning and our nity organizations from nearby Springfield to discussions achieved a depth that I have never Sioux Falls to Sierra Leone. Students can apply encountered.” Professor Bumiller notes that their unique talents and Amherst education to community-based learning is deeply connected to her teaching and research. “The complexities benefit people and organizations across the country created by the setting,” she says, “enhance and the world. In turn, they will learn new skills and gain both my own and my students’ intellectual experience that will serve them in the classroom and beyond. engagement.” In the past, every student has completed the course and received Amherst College credit. Upon their release from jail, many of the inside students have put this credit toward degrees at community colleges and state universities.

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RUSSELL LEE

SENIOR

LORTON, VIRGINIA

T HEAT ER AND DANCE AND ENGLISH DOUBLE M AJOR

First and foremost, Amherst is, and always has been, a WIDE RECEIVER, INTERCOLLEGIATE FOOTBALL Athletics (3 SEASONS) rigorous liberal arts college. That said, many students here POINT GUARD, INTERCOLLEGIATE BASKETBALL are involved in athletics ranging from karate to kayaking to intramural and varsity (4 SEASONS) team sports. One-third of the student body plays at the intercollegiate level. Amherst MEMBER, ZUMBYES A CAPPELLA GROU P has long been a leader in athletics: it’s where the world’s first physical education ON BEING A T W O-SPORT AT HLET E: “There isn’t any animosity on the teams because we know that we department was established in 1859. aren’t fighting for a spot in the NFL or NBA. There Amherst’s 27 intercollegiate teams are frequent contenders in post-season play is less pressure.” in the NCAA Division III and the New England Small College Athletic Conference MEMORABLE S PORTS MOM ENT: “Playing against Williams in the Final Four. The experience was (NESCAC). Amherst athletes are regularly named Academic All-America, All-America, something I never will forget.” All-Star, All-Conference; they’ve earned Division III honors. The legendary FAVO RIT E CLASS: “So many to choose from. I love Amherst-Williams rivalry is one of the few small college rivalries that’s been creative writing classes like Writing Poetry and Playwriting. If you want to get your creative motor featured on ESPN’s website and College GameDay. running, check those out.” There’s a healthy balance here between athletics and academics—and life in ON SINGING A CAPPELLA: “I did not sing a cappella general. While coaches from other institutions marvel at the intensity of Amherst before coming to Amherst. I did sing in choirs, but nothing as interesting as the Zumbyes. We make athletes, athletes know they won’t lose their competitive edge if they have to miss music that gives the audience a different perspective practice to go to a lab. on what a cappella sounds like.” Our playing fields and 8,000-square-foot fitness center are highly regarded as the best in the NESCAC. Along with the pool, squash courts, basketball courts and ice rink, there’s an indoor training facility for field sports, tennis and track and field.

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 42 8/26/13 7:21 PM MEN’S INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORTS Baseball Basketball ASHLEY HARMELING Cross-Country SENIOR Football NORTH REA DING, Golf MASSACHUSETTS Ice Hockey ECONOMICS Indoor/Outdoor Track Lacrosse AT TACKER, INTERCOLLEGIATE LACROSSE Soccer T RI-CA PTAIN AND FORWA RD, INTERCOLLEGIATE SOCCER Squash CO-CA PTAIN, INTERCOLLEGIATE SQUASH Swimming/Diving W HY AMHERST: “I transferred to Amherst because Tennis Harvard didn’t feel like the perfect fit. And at Harvard the level of commitment the sports required was too WOMEN’S INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORTS intense for what I was looking for in college. I came Basketball to Amherst with open arms. Everything just kind of fell Cross-Country in place here.” Field Hockey ON SPORTS AT AMHERST: “Everyone understands that Golf this is something we love. It’s not something you have Ice Hockey to carry with you at night when you’re doing your Indoor/Outdoor Track homework or into the next morning.” Lacrosse WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A THREE-SPORT ATHLETE: “Most Soccer people ask if I’m nuts. Maybe I am, but every time I Softball started a sport, I thought, ‘There’s no way I’ll stop Squash this.’ Most of why I enjoy all this is the people on the Swimming/Diving team. Basically, it’s a social two hours, working hard, Tennis getting in shape, but we have so much fun.” Volleyball AT HLET IC HONORS INCLUDE (P A RTIAL LIST): New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Player of the Ye a r (soccer and lacrosse), First-Team All-America (soccer and lacrosse), top-ranked women’s squash player at Amherst

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Residence Life living it up The residence halls are where you’ll form deep and lasting friendships, learn to live on your own and with others, and be exposed to new ideas and diferent points of view. All first-year students will live on the Main Quad in new or newly renovated residences that feature nooks for studying, rooms for socializing and spaces for theater, dance, music practice or performance. Upper-class residences include a large number of single rooms. And housing is guaranteed all four years. Ninety-seven percent of Amherst students live on campus.

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 44 8/26/13 7:21 PM eating well Valentine Dining Hall is part of what makes the campus so close-knit: everyone eats in the same comfortable, light-filled building with lots of dining areas and niches. You might grab a snack with your professor. Or Amherst’s president might join your group for a political discussion. And the food is pretty good, according to an unscientific survey of students. Favorite dishes include cheesy potato soup, chicken stew, raspberry oatmeal treats, Congo bars, steak and the custom omelet station. You can sample food from all over the world at the annual Taste of Amherst, when local restaurants bring samples of their cuisine to campus for students to try.

campus events Life on campus evolves each semester, but some events have become true Amherst traditions. Homecoming in the fall involves most of the campus as well as alumni stretching back half a century. Harlem Renaissance has everyone dress up for an evening of great music, dancing and poetry in a celebra- tion of African-American culture. Casino in February raises funds for charity. And after the long Amherst winter, Spring Weekend ofers a chance to celebrate the return of warm weather with a formal dance, cookouts, bands and cotton candy outside the Keefe Campus Center.

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Every season ofers a new wardrobe Weather for the campus and diferent outdoor pursuits to enjoy. Fall is a good time for hiking and biking the many pathways around campus. When the weather cools down and the campus dons a mantle of white, skiing and snowboarding are nearby. If you need to warm up after a campus snowball fight, head to the fireplaces in Keefe Campus Center or in one of the residence halls. In the spring, the rolling lawns are perfect for a barbecue, tossing a Frisbee or sunbathing.

434970.P33.46.CS6.indd 46 8/26/13 7:21 PM 434970.DIV 3.CS6.indd 1 “ it addsevenmoreofacollegeatmosphere.” course offerings—withallthoseotherstudents, Five Collegeconsortium, whichhasmorethanextra The campushereisbeautiful. Then there’s the YA I M WARNER | JUNIOR | HISTORY AND FRENCH DOUBLE M AJOR 8/26/13 7:03 PM

LOCAT ION five college area 47 campus 48 town of amherst 58 434970.DIV 3.CS6.indd 2

Location facts { C C L L R R C FROM DISTANCE BOSTON: FROM DISTANCE I I OLLEGE STU OLLEGE RA 10-MILE A WITHIN OLLEGES AMPUS SIZE: SIZE: AMPUS ESI ESI B B RAR RAR D D ENCE HALLS WITH WIRELESS NETWORKING: NETWORKING: WIRELESS WITH HALLS ENCE HALLS: ENCE Y Y PERIO VOLUMES: D ENTS WITHIN A 10-MILE RA 10-MILE A WITHIN ENTS 1,000acres D N ICALS: ICALS: EW YORK CIT YORK EW 37 1.4 million+ 1.4 130,000printelectronicand titlesjournal 90 miles 90 Y : D 150 miles 150 IUS: 5 (including5 Amherst) D IUS: IUS: 30,000 100% 8/26/13 7:03 PM five college area campus town of amherst LOCAT ION 47

Amherst isn’t just part of a college town; it’s part of a college region. Within 10 miles of Amherst’s campus are four other colleges (all linked by a free bus system), 30,000 college Five College Area students and endless things to do. There are artsy theaters, open mic poetry nights, ethnic restaurants, unique stores and live music from the obscure to the mainstream (including big { concerts at the 10,500-seat Mullins Center at UMass).

With its funky shops and live music, along with horse farms and produce stands, the Five College area—also known as the Pioneer Valley— offers a taste of both city and small town.

The Norwottuck Trail, a former railroad, provides a pleasant walk, jog or skate to Northampton, known for its shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

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Campus With its 1,000-acre campus, rolling lawns and picturesque buildings, Amherst has the look of a quintessential New England college campus. Behind the classic brick fronts, though, are sophisticated facilities. Most academic buildings have been reno- vated in the past five years, and nearly every residence hall has been recently updated or rebuilt. There is wireless access through- out campus (including all residence halls), advanced equipment in the Computer Center, fiber optics in the classrooms, and state-of-the-art labs in the science build- ings. With its tight-knit community and well-lit campus, Amherst is a comfortable and safe place to call home. For Amherst’s safety statistics, see www.amherst.edu/offices/campus_police and click on the Jeanne Clery Disclosure link.

Mountain vistas provide a dramatic backdrop for the campus.

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While Amherst’s campus offers plenty of diversions and scenery, students also take advantage of outdoor pursuits nearby, from kayaking the Connecticut River to biking the trail that runs through campus and down to Northampton.

The site of readings, lectures and intellectual discussions, the Babbott Room is located in the Octagon, an eight-sided building that was built in the mid-1800s as an observatory and scientific gallery.

The Babbott Room in the Octagon.

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Sitting outside of Johnson Chapel.

434970.P47.58.CS6.indd 50 8/26/13 7:27 PM Ninety-nine percent of Amherst students live on campus, in residence halls ranging from single rooms to suites.

Mayo-Smith House, an upper-class residence. Common area in North, a first-year residence.

434970.P47.58.CS6.indd 51 8/26/13 7:27 PM With a 500-seat performance space, rehearsal areas, more than 17 practice rooms and a music library, the Arms Music Center is a frequent destination for the close to 50 percent of Amherst students who are involved with music on campus.

Whatever the weather , the Main Quad serves as the heart of the Amherst campus—and the setting for snowball fights, study sessions, informal debates and Commencement. All first-year students live on this quad in new or newly renovated residences.

Rehearsal in Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center. Main Quad.

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The Robert Frost Library includes more than 1.4 million volumes and nearly 600,000 media materials, along with rare books and the works of poets Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. Amherst also has specialized libraries for math, music and science.

Robert Frost Library, named for the poet, who taught at Amherst.

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The renovated Fayerweather Hall includes the latest in painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking studios. The Eli Marsh Gallery on the first floor exhibits the work of students, faculty and professional artists.

The printmaking studio in Fayerweather Hall. Fayerweather Hall at night.

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The War Memorial, dedicated to the memory of Amherst students and alumni who lost their lives in the two World Wars, provides a quiet place to reflect and a stunning view of the Holyoke Range.

Amherst’s War Memorial.

434970.P47.58.CS6.indd 55 8/26/13 7:28 PM Varsity, club and intramural athletes make good use of Amherst’s extensive playing fields, along with the hockey rink, pool, gym, dozens of tennis courts and the 8,000-square-foot fitness center.

The Keefe Campus Center is a college hub. Students come here to check for mail, catch up with friends over coffee at Schwemm’s, attend a student organization meeting, play foosball, study, watch a free movie or spread the word about an upcoming event.

Checking for letters from home in the mailroom. Frisbee on one of Amherst’s many playing fields.

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Hikers and mountain bikers looking for a challenge find one in the Robert Frost Trail, which runs from the Holyoke Range State Park to Mount Toby Forest in Sunderland, passing through several conservation areas.

The 30-mile Robert Frost Trail, not far from campus.

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The college borders the charming and lively downtown of Amherst, which ofers a little of everything: Try the black bean avocado pizza—or one of 45 other types—at Antonio’s. Get a $10 haircut. Pick up organic produce at the farmers’ Town of Amherst market. Peruse thousands of titles at the music stores. Hang at the outside tables at Rao’s cofee shop. }

From late-night pizza at Antonio’s to caffeine in many forms, to bookstores that host readings by poets and writers, downtown offers many of life’s necessities.

The town of Amherst borders the campus with dozens of restaurants and shops, along with the Emily Dickinson Museum, the poet’s former home that is owned and cared for by Amherst College.

434970.P47.58.CS6.indd 58 8/26/13 7:28 PM 434970.DIV 4.CS6.indd 1 “ and toldme,‘Ifyoucanthink,that’s allthat matters.’” people at GoldmanSachshadexperiencewith Amherst students people werecomingfrombusinessbackgrounds. Butmostofthe Going intothefinancialindustry, Iwas concernedthat other A T MAT MURU M BA | SENIOR | POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY DOUBLE M AJOR 8/26/13 7:04 PM

AFTER AMHERST planning your future 62 career resources 62 fellowships and internships 64 accomplished alumni 64 ALUMNI ATTENDING GRA DUATE OR PROFESSION A L SCHOOL WITHIN 5 YE A RS: 80%

ACTIVE A LUMNI: 21,500+ mherst facts ALUMNI WHO FIN ANCIA LLY SU PPORT AMHERST ANNUA LLY: 60% GRA DUATES OFFERED FULBRIGHT FELLOWSHI PS IN THE PAST 5 YE A RS: 47 a GRA DUATES OFFERED N ATIONA L SCIENCE FOUND ATION FELLOWSHI PS IN THE PAST 5 YE A RS: 29

fter { a

434970.DIV 4.CS6.indd 2 9/3/13 5:53 AM planning your future career resources fellowships and internships accomplished alumni AFTER AMHERST 59

At Amherst, you can become more of who you want to be. Many recent graduates talk about a new sense of confidence in their own abilities, a realization of how much they have to ofer to society and an insatiable curiosity about the world that prompts them to ask compelling questions and discover their own answers. Whether they graduated two years ago or 50 years ago, graduates remember the sustained friendships they made here and the professors who inspired them to take their learning to higher levels and in varied directions. An Amherst education has a deep and lasting impact because it goes beyond training you for a particular job or career. Instead, Amherst focuses on your growth as a person—intellectually, socially and creatively—along with skills that will serve you in whatever career you choose.

434970.P59.64.CS6.indd 59 8/26/13 7:36 PM AMHERST A LUMNI: MA KING A N IMPACT A ROUND THE WORLD

Just as Amherst students bring their unique experiences to campus from the world over, JULIA LIPEZ ’02 when they graduate they head in hundreds of directions, geographically, professionally HISTORY AND FRENCH DOUBLE M AJOR STANFORD LAW SCHOOL ’06 and intellectually. They’re teaching English in inner-city Detroit, Prague and Japan. PA LO A LTO, CALIFORNIA They’re pursuing medical and law degrees and doctorates in fields from biochemistry to jazz studies. They’re running marathons. They’re working in South Africa with children “ Amherst helped me develop a sense of balance and community service. I tried to take those lessons with affected by HIV. They’re launching their own biotech companies, law practices, film pro- me to law school. In law school, I tutored eighth- duction companies, cafés and venture capital firms. They’re starting families. They’re grade girls at an alternative middle school. On my first day, I was shocked to see an old friend from singing solos at Carnegie Hall. They’re writing novels and short stories and investigative Amherst—it turns out that she was doing Teac h reports for national magazines. for America.”

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CHRIS CONDLIN ’03 NAT HAN C LAY ’98 HISTORY AND RUSSIAN DOUBLE MAJO R P HYSICS AND S PANISH DOUBLE MAJO R RESIDENT COUNS ELOR OF THE MOSCOW SITE OF THE MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE MUSICIAN (LEAD VOCALS, SMACK SCHOOL ’04-’06 DARTS), HIGH S CHOOL TUTO R MOSCOW, RUSSIA NEW YO R K CITY, NEW YO R K

“After Amherst I spent 10 months in St. Petersburg on “Amherst encourages you to pursue the things you are a Fulbright fellowship studying Russian history and interested in. T his provides a measure of confidence working internships at a local newspaper and the in figuring out your own personal challenges and American Chamber of Commerce. Then I found a job taking them on. Coordinating a big project (recording working for the Middlebury College study-abroad pro- an album, for example) from conception to creation gram in Moscow. The wonderful Russian department and production to public presentation can be a monu- at Amherst prepared me for two years in which I used mental task, but even when things seem difficult, it Russian professionally and saw a world I never could never seems impossible.” have imagined.”

STEPHEN RUCKMAN ’01 POLITICAL ETHICS AND STAT ESMANSHIP (INTER DISCIPLINARY MAJO R) AND MUSIC DOUBLE MAJO R

JOINT DEGREE '08, YALE LAW SCHOOL AND YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL (SPECIALIZING IN R ELIGIOUS ETHICS)

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

“ T h e fall after my senior year at Amherst, I went to London on a Fulbright and got a master’s at the London School of Economics. It was one of the most unforgettable years of my life—an excellent academic experience filled with amazing opportunities— serving as a speechwriter in the House of Lords, working as parliamentary research assistant for the schools minister, traveling all around the UK and Europe and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Margaret Thatcher.”

434970.P59.64.CS6.indd 61 8/26/13 7:36 PM 62 63 AFTER AMHERST planning your future career resources fellowships and internships accomplished alumni

planning your future will the Career Center, which ofers the personal touch Graduating seniors are prepared for whatever direction of counselors and peer advisors—plus sophisticated they choose, ready to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing technology and other resources to help you select a world. While Amherst students aren’t trained for particular graduate school or career direction or find a fellowship, careers, their critical thinking and creative skills make internship or full-time job. them more likely to become, for instance, the visionaries taking advantage of career resources and decision-makers in their chosen fields. Science students find that an Amherst education enables them to No matter what direction you take, you can find guidance make keen observations and test their hypotheses—and through the Career Center. Each year, the center orga- efectively communicate their results. For artists and nizes more than 200 programs on such topics as résumés musicians, Amherst’s grounding in the liberal arts makes and interviews, science careers, law school and medical their work deeper, richer and more meaningful. school applications, working for nonprofits and careers Maybe you’ll leave Amherst doing exactly what you for artists. Throughout the year, alumni take part in planned when you arrived. Maybe you’ll be doing something career panels encompassing an array of fields, including you can’t even fathom now. Amherst encourages you to advertising, publishing, science and health, social justice explore many diferent areas in and out of the classroom— and teaching. through a class, a volunteer experience, a semester If you’re interested in pursuing law or medicine or abroad or anything, really—that could shift your whole another health profession, advisors will work closely with life trajectory. you to make sure you’re fully prepared. With the experi- A lot of people at Amherst can help you through the ence of a rigorous liberal arts curriculum and strong journey, through a change of major or a change of heart. faculty recommendations, Amherst students go on to top Your advisor, professors and friends will all play a part. So medical, law and graduate programs. If you’re hoping to teach high school, Amherst ofers “The Career Center definitely left a positive mark on my time at a secondary school certification program in cooperation Amherst. After working there for four years, I became familiar with Mount Holyoke College that prepares students to teach right out of college. with all the ins and outs of career exploration. The programs and Through the college’s recruiting program, more than services provided by the Career Center enhanced my Amherst 600 interviews were conducted on campus last year by a experience because they really taught me how to make the range of organizations such as M & T Bank, Teach for America and Ogilvy & Mather. Amherst also collabo- most of my Amherst education and helped me realize how my rates with other colleges to ofer expanded opportunities education can fit into my larger career and life goals.” for networking, interviews and career days.

RACHEL HAMALAINEN ’11 | BLACK STUDIES AND WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES MAJOR

434970.P59.64.CS6.indd 62 8/26/13 7:36 PM BROOKE DIAMOND ’03 PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW, JURISPRUDENCE CAT HE RINE ITAYA ’04 AND SOCIAL THOUGHT DOU BLE MAJOR ENGLISH AND PHILOSOPHY DOUBLE MAJOR

ANA LYST, HEALT HCA R E GROUP, TEACHE R, JA PAN EXCHANGE AND GOLDMAN SACHS TEACHING P ROGRAM ’04 -’05

LONDON, ENGLAND HIROSHIMA, JA PAN

“ I n my opinion, you should choose a college where, “Prospective students ought to know that intellec- after four years, you are heartbroken to know that tual life doesn’t stop at the classroom door or your time there is over, but you also know that you even at the edges of the Amherst campus. There are incredibly well prepared to face whatever comes are professors, people you meet at the coffee next. For me, that place was Amherst.” shop, artists, street vendors, bookstore browsers, bird-watchers and rollerbladers who all make up the Amherst community, all with a keen interest in the world and ideas and talking things over.”

EDWIN MACHARIA ’01 BIOLOGY MAJOR

DEPUTY COUNTRY DIRECTOR, TANZANIA, C LINTON HIV/AIDS INITIATIVE

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA

“Amherst taught me how to think critically, deconstruct argu- ments, pick a personal position (rather than regurgitating those advocated in books, articles or assigned reading) and then defend it at a level that I had not done before. I always remember Professor Michèle Barale, who said, ‘I want to hear what you think, not what you read in the assigned books.’”

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fellowships and internships Given the rigor of the Amherst education, the emphasis From teaching in New York City public schools to maintaining on writing, the opportunity to do graduate-level thesis work trails in Montana state parks to working with Refugees and the strong recommendations written by faculty who International in Washington, D.C., opportunities abound know you personally, you will be well prepared for advanced for you to gain experience while making a diference—with study. Within five years of graduating, about 80 percent of Amherst providing financial support. alumni go on to advanced study—and they’re accepted Through the Civic Engagement Scholars Program into top programs around the country and the world. around 200 students receive funding of $2,500-$4,000 from Amherst each year to do public service work around accomplished alumni the country and the world. With Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, astronauts, You can also opt for internships, starting as early as Tony and Emmy Award winners and best-selling authors your first year, choosing from more than 5,000 opportuni- among their ranks, Amherst’s more than 21,500 active ties worldwide through the Liberal Arts Career Network, alumni are accomplished in all kinds of endeavors. along with the Amherst Select Internship Program (ASIP), They steer companies and nonprofits. Their research offering more than 400 internship opportunities spon- and scholarship influence the body of knowledge in aca- sored by alumni, parents and friends of Amherst College. deme, science and medicine. They’re leaders in politics and Amherst ofers an unusually large number of fellow- the Peace Corps, education and business, communications ships for seniors and recent graduates heading to graduate and law. They are accomplished musicians and artists. or professional schools, annually awarding more than 180 Alumni are also remarkably dedicated to Amherst. fellowships worth $750,000 to support students studying The proportion of alumni contributing to the college’s everything from international relations to music to chemistry. annual fund (which supports financial aid, among other Graduating seniors and recent graduates have competed things) makes Amherst a national leader in alumni giving quite successfully for the nation’s most prestigious fel- among colleges and universities in the country. lowships, including Fulbright, Goldwater, Watson and Alumni stay connected to Amherst. Thousands return Rhodes. Amherst is consistently among the top Fulbright- to campus for Homecoming each fall to renew old friend- producing colleges in New England, with recent scholars ships. Throughout the year, alumni reach out to current studying and working around the world from Kosovo to students with career advice, internship opportunities Korea, Morocco to Macau. and job leads. You can get in touch with alumni through the Amherst Career Network, an online database that sorts alumni by location, profession or major. Amherst “The loyalty to this school is truly unprecedented. also arranges trips so you can visit alumni at their work- People would do anything for Amherst.” places and their homes, seeing for yourself how Amherst graduates have shaped lives of meaning and fulfillment. SARAH MILLER ’03 | CHEMISTRY MAJOR | T EAC HER, T EAC H FOR AM ERICA

434970.P59.64.CS6.indd 64 8/26/13 7:36 PM 434970.DIV 5.CS6.indd 1 “ was the kindoflearningenvironmentIwanted.” was that generouswithhistimea prefrosh,this chatted withmeafterclass.Ifiguredifaprofessor debriefed meonwhat theclasshadcoveredsofar and When Ivisited Amherst, aneurobiology professor JULIA FOX | SOPHOMORE | UNDECLARED 8/26/13 7:05 PM

ADMISSION AND FINANCIAL AID applying to amherst 65 financial aid 67 visiting campus 69 id a

Class of 2016 Academic Profile of Admitted Students APPLICANTS: 8,565 SAT REASONING TEST MIDDLE 50%: 2040–2350 ACT COMPOSIT E MIDDLE 50%: 31–34 P ERCENTAGE A DMITTED: 13%

OF THOSE A DMITTED, PERCENTAGE Secondary School Class Rank inancial ENRO LLED: 42% TOP T ENT H: 83%

f TOP QUARTE R: 95% facts MALE/FEMA LE: 49% /51%

P ERCENTAGE O F CLASS A DMIT T ED Financial Aid Profile of Admitted Students EA RLY DECISION: 39% FINANCIA L AID A PPLICANTS: 71%

and and STUDENTS O F CO LO R: 42% FINANCIA L AID A PPLICANTS WHO DEMONST RAT ED STUDENTS FROM LOW-INCOME FAMILIES: 21% FINANCIA L NEED: 68%

INTERNATIONA L STUDENTS: 10% O F T HOS E, PERCENTAGE WHO R EC EIVED A PACKAGE MEET ING T HEIR FULL DEMONST RAT ED NEED: 100% S ECONDA RY SCHOOLS REPRESENTED: 372 P E RCENTAGE OF A LL AMHERST ST UDENTS R EC EIVING { FINANCIA L AID F ROM A LL SOURCES: 68% dmission a

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applying to amherst the clearest indication of how well you will do at The Common Application is available online at Amherst. Standardized tests also play an important www.commonapp.org. You must submit the non- What do we look for in an Amherst student? role in helping us evaluate you in comparison to refundable$60 application fee or appropriate fee We’ve found that the students who thrive here are students taught in very diferent secondary schools. waiver when you submit your application. those who take full advantage of the resources Recommendations, the quality of your writing, Amherst ofers—who fully explore the open cur- HOMESCHOOLED STUDENTS and extra- and co-curricular talents also help the riculum, who interact and engage with professors For information on what to submit with your appli- Admission Committee draw fine distinctions among and other students from a range of backgrounds cation, refer to our website at www.amherst.edu/ very talented applicants. and perspectives, who contribute in some way to admission. the life of the campus. IB, AP AND COLLEGE COURSES REGULAR DECISION In reviewing your application, we consider If you have taken International Baccalaureate, More than 90 percent of our applicants choose grades, standardized test scores, essays, recommen- Advanced Placement or college courses during the Regular Decision option. Your application dations, independent work, the quality of your secondary school, we view this as significant must be submitted by January 1. Notice of our secondary school program and your achievements evidence of your academic accomplishment and decision will be sent by early April. If admitted, outside the classroom. No one aspect will make or preparation. In addition, some Amherst depart- you must reply to our ofer by May 1. break our decision; instead, we look at the sum ments will allow you to forgo introductory-level total of your experiences. courses in areas in which you have already com- EARLY DECISION pleted rigorous work. However, we do not accept Less than 10 percent of Amherst applicants choose recommended preparation such courses for credit or advanced standing. our binding Early Decision (ED) program. As an We take great care to review every application Early Decision applicant, you agree not to be an thoroughly. Each is read by at least two admission first-year applicants ED candidate at any other college. You also agree, deans before being presented to the Admission To apply as a first-year student at Amherst, if admitted, to withdraw all applications from Committee for discussion. We pay closest attention you must submit both the Common Application other colleges and to enroll at Amherst in the fall. to your: and Amherst’s Supplement to the Common Early Decision applications must be submitted • secondary school transcript; Application, plus supporting materials. by November 15. Notice of our decision will be • standardized tests (see box for details); sent by December 15. • teacher and counselor recommendations; DEFERRED ADMISSION • quality of writing as demonstrated in your STANDARDIZED TESTS An admitted first-year student may, with the essays, testing and recommendations; permission of the Director of Admission, defer • extra- and co-curricular involvements and talents. • SAT Reasoning Test plus two SAT subject exams OR matriculation for a year without reapplying. We give the greatest weight to your academic • ACT (Writing Test recommended)

transcript. The rigor of the courses you’ve taken, SAT: Amherst Code #3003 the quality of your grades and the consistency ACT: Amherst Code #1774 with which you’ve worked over four years give us

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transfer students international students Visiting Students at Amherst as well as Twelve You are eligible for transfer admission to Amherst We welcome applications from international stu- College Exchange students at Amherst are not if you have completed at least one year of transfer- dents. Currently, some 12 percent of our students eligible for transfer to the college. We ask that able liberal arts coursework as a full-time student are international—approximately 10 percent are you submit the Amherst College Visiting Student at a college or university. To be competitive, you non-U.S. citizens and the others are U.S. dual Application. It must arrive at the Admission should have at least a B plus average in your college citizens, U.S. permanent residents or U.S. citi- OGce no later than December 1, and our admis- courses. We do not accept applications from indi- zens living or raised abroad. Our Admission sion decision will be sent in late December. If viduals who have already earned a bachelor’s degree. Committee is familiar with various education accepted, you will need to respond to our ofer You should submit the Common Appli cation’s systems around the world. In addition, Amherst promptly. For details and a Visiting Student Transfer Application online, along with a non- College is one of only a handful of colleges in the application, go to www.amherst.edu/admission. refundable $60 application fee or appropriate fee U.S. to apply a need-blind admission policy to waiver. If you are a fall transfer applicant, your international applicants. application must be submitted by March 1. Our Regardless of your citizenship or geographic admission decision will be sent late in May. If location, you should follow the same first-year admitted, you must reply to our ofer by early or transfer application process that other stu- June. If you are a spring transfer applicant, your dents follow. application must submitted by November 1. Our If English is not your first language, and you FOR MORE INFORMATION admission decision will be sent in late December. If have not been taught primarily in English for the Office of Admission accepted you must respond to our ofer promptly. past four years, you must take the Test of English Amherst College For details and an application, go to as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or a similar PO Box 5000 www.amherst.edu/admission. English-proficiency exam, such as the Michigan Amherst, MA 01002-5000 English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB), Phone: (413) 542-2328 or the International English Language Testing E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.amherst.edu System (IELTS). This requirement is waived for students who score above 700 on the Critical Amherst College does not discriminate in its admission or employment policies Reading section of the SAT. and practices on the basis of factors such as race, sex, sexual orientation, gen- der identity, gender expression, age, color, religion, national origin, disability visiting students or status as a veteran of the Vietnam War era or as a disabled veteran. The A limited number of places are available in the college complies with federal and state legislation and regulations regarding non-discrimination. Inquiries should be addressed to the Director of Human spring semester for full-time visiting students. Resources, Amherst College, PO Box 5000, Amherst, MA 01002–5000. To be eligible, you must be currently enrolled in college and have completed at least one year of full-time college work. Individuals enrolled as

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COST OF ATTENDANCE: 2013–14

When we calculate an aid award, we use a student expense budget that includes both direct charges and out-of-pocket expenses. In 2013–14 the budget includes: financial aid applying for financial aid Comprehensive fee (tuition, room and board): $57,970 Other student fees (student activities, campus center programs Thinking about how to pay for a college education To apply for financial aid from Amherst, submit and residential governance): $774 can be overwhelming. Our generous financial aid the following items by the dates indicated: Health insurance (estimate; may be waived): $1,626 program ensures that an Amherst education is • CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. You may complete Books and supplies (estimate): $1,000 afordable to every student we admit. Through this form online at collegeboard.com/profile. The Personal expenses (estimate): $1,800 a combination of scholarships, grants and job Amherst College code for the PROFILE is 3003. opportunities, Amherst awards financial aid that Travel (estimate; varies by location): $50–$2,500 Early Decision: November 1 completely covers the diference between what Cost of attendance: $63,220–$65,670 Regular Decision: February 15 Amherst costs and what your family can con- The actual cost to the college per student of a year at Amherst Fall Transfer: March 15 is about $81,000. However, income from our endowment and tribute. In 2012-13, nearly 60 percent of the Spring Transfer: November 1 gifts helps subsidize that amount significantly, even for stu- Amherst student body received a total of more dents who do not receive financial aid. than $43 million in scholarships and grants from If your parents are separated or divorced, your the college. (To estimate your family contribu- noncustodial parent should file the College tion, go to www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid Board’s Noncustodial PROFILE (NCP) after and click on “Financial Aid Calculator.”) you and your custodial parent have filed the CSS/ available, submit them through IDOC. We hope you won’t let any hesitation about Financial Aid PROFILE. Information about the Canadian citizens and permanent residents costs keep you from applying. Amherst has a NCP will be sent to you soon after you file the (landed immigrants) must submit signed copies need-blind admission policy for both domestic and PROFILE. of your and your parents’ federal and provincial international applicants. We base our admission income tax returns and wage statements (T-4 • Parents’ and student’s federal income tax forms) directly to Amherst’s Office of Financial decision on your achievements, talents and prom- returns and wage statements. U.S. citizens Aid. If you’re applying Early Decision or your ise. Whether or not you’ve applied for financial and permanent residents must submit signed income tax forms are not available by March 10, aid does not afect any admission decisions. copies of your and your parents’ federal income submit copies of the previous year’s tax docu- And all financial aid is based on financial need; tax return(s) and wage statements (W-2 forms) ments and wage statements. When current doc- Amherst does not award merit or athletic schol- through the College Board’s Institutional Docu- uments are available, submit them directly to arships. Amherst’s aid program has been need- mentation Service (IDOC). If you’ve filed a the Financial Aid Office. based since the college’s founding in 1821. PROFILE form, in early February you’ll receive Early Decision: November 15 A college education is an investment in the information on submitting documents. If you’re Regular Decision: March 10 future. And for thousands of Amherst graduates, the applying Early Decision or your income tax Fall Transfer: April 10 investment has been a good one. Amherst’s financial forms are not available by March 10, submit Spring Transfer: November 1 aid program is regularly cited in popular magazines copies of the previous year’s tax documents and and other media as one of the country’s best. wage statements directly to Amherst’s Office of Financial Aid. When current documents are

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AVERAGE FINANCIAL AID AWARDS TO STUDENTS RECEIVING AMHERST GRANT ASSISTANCE 2012–13

NUMBER GRANTS WORK LOAN TOTAL AWARD RANGE D EPENDENT STUDENTS Family income $0–29,999 105 $56,932 $1,423 $308 $58,663 $12,660–64,209 • Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA Family income $30,000–59,999 207 54,679 1,298 453 56,430 22,550–61,873 (for U.S. citizens and permanent residents Family income $60,000–89,999 159 48,443 1,282 1,755 51,480 5,820–61,799 only). You may complete the FAFSA online at Family income $90,000–119,999 140 41,764 1,223 2,347 45,334 17,177–59,168 www.fafsa.gov or get a FAFSA form from your Family income $120,000–149,999 100 33,043 1,342 1,884 36,269 6,210–58,659 secondary school counselor. The Amherst col- Family income $150,000 or more 190 22,258 1,337 1,920 25,515 1,690–50,897 lege code for the FAFSA is 002115. The FAFSA IND EPENDENT STUDENTS 20 54,304 880 1,350 56,534 5,095–70,990 should be submitted anytime after January 1. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS 146 51,037 1,538 63 52,638 13,059–65,204 ALL RECIPIENTS 1,067 $44,128 $1,335 $1,266 $46,729 $1,690–70,990 determining your financial aid package To evaluate the information you submit and * Note that, as of the 2008-09 school year, Amherst’s financial aid package includes only grants and work opportunities. Student determine what you and your family can aford loans are not a required part of financial aid packages. Students may, however, choose to take a loan to purchase a computer, replace work in an aid award, or make up a shortfall in summer savings. to contribute, we use a need-analysis formula developed by the College Scholarship Service of the College Board. Your family contribution consists attendance for the coming year has been set and transfer applicants of contributions from your parents’ income and after we have reviewed new tax returns from you Transfer applicants are treated identically to first- assets as well as from your own income (usually and your parents. If you want to compare financial year applicants, with admission decisions made on from a summer job) and assets. Your family con- aid packages from several colleges, you should a need-blind basis and financial need met in full. tribution subtracted from the cost of attendance apply Regular Decision. equals your demonstrated need. Amherst then studying abroad or away from amherst meets your need by giving you a financial aid international applicants Your financial aid may be used for study abroad package that usually includes scholarships and We ofer financial aid to approximately 140 foreign programs, as well as for other study away from a campus job. citizens every year. Typically more than 1,000 Amherst, whether through such programs as the In 2012-13, nearly 60 percent of Amherst stu- foreign applicants apply for these financial aid Twelve College Exchange or through individual dents received scholarship aid from the college. An awards, which are based on financial need and range enrollment as a visiting student at another institution. additional 10 percent received outside scholarships. from a few thousand dollars to a full scholarship. Overall, nearly 70 percent of Amherst students International financial aid applicants must submit FOR MORE INFORMATION received aid from some source. the CSS/ Financial Aid PROFILE online and must Office of Financial Aid send copies of student’s and parents’ most recent early decision Amherst College tax returns and/or other documentation of income PO Box 5000 If you are an Early Decision applicant and you directly to the Financial Aid Office. For more Amherst, MA 01002-5000 submit your financial aid application materials on information, go to www.amherst.edu/offices/ Phone: (413) 542-2296 time, you will receive a preliminary financial aid financialaid. Fax: (413) 542-2628 award soon after getting a letter of admission. This E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid award will be confirmed later, after the cost of

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visiting campus directions to campus to reach the admission office Words and photos can give you a sense of Amherst, Amherst College is approximately two hours west of Follow the driving directions on page 70. When but they can’t capture how you might experience downtown Boston, two-and-a-half hours from Logan you reach Rte. 116 south (heading away from the the college. That’s why we encourage you to come Airport, and three hours north of New York City, Town Common), continue for a few blocks before to Amherst and see for yourself. Although we do depending on traGc and weather conditions. turning left into the circular driveway in front of not ofer personal interviews for prospective the OGce of Admission. (Note: The OGce of BY AIR students, there are several ways to encounter the Admission and the Athletic Complex share a very The nearest airport is Bradley International Airport, Amherst community firsthand. Without making a large, semicircular driveway. Both ends of this which serves both Hartford, Connecticut, and reservation, you may do any of the following: driveway open onto Rte. 116. This is a one-way Springfield, Massachusetts. Bradley is 45 minutes • Explore on your own schedule. Our campus is open driveway; cars should enter at the southern point, from campus; Logan Airport is in Boston. Shuttle and easy to navigate, and you can pick up a near the gym, and exit at the northern point, near transportation from either airport to campus is avail- map and self-guided tour brochure outside of the Octagon hill.) able through Valley Transporter or Seemo Shuttle. the Admission OGce at any time. Bus service from Logan Airport to Amherst is ofered If you are using Mapquest or a GPS, enter 220 • Join an hour-long campus tour given by a student by Peter Pan Bus Lines. If you’re driving from South Pleasant Street as the destination address. tour guide. Tours depart from the Admission Bradley, follow the driving directions from North/ OGce. For a schedule, go to www.amherst.edu/ PARKING South (see page 70). admission. The Admission OGce has a limited number of • Attend an hour-long general information ses- BY BUS parking spaces for visitors in front of the Admission sion led by an admission dean, or an hour-long Peter Pan Bus Lines, in partnership with Greyhound, OGce. If all the visitor spaces are taken, get a financial aid information session led by a financial has regular service to Amherst. parking pass from the Admission receptionist and G park in the Orr Hockey Rink lot nearby. aid dean at the Admission O ce. For a schedule, BY TRAIN www.amherst.edu/admission. go to Amtrak has limited service to Amherst and extensive • accommodations Observe an Amherst class. Choose a class from service to Springfield, Massachusetts, just 30 min- catalog.amherst.edu. For a list of hotels and other accommodations the Online Course Catalog at utes from campus. If arriving in Springfield, trans- Be sure to contact the professor ahead of time to near campus, go to www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/ portation to campus is available through Peter Pan visiting/lodging. obtain permission to observe the class. To see when Bus Lines, Valley Transporter or Seemo Shuttle. classes are in session, go to www.amherst.edu/ aboutamherst/news/calendar/glance. Peter Pan Bus Lines: We also invite admitted students to stay on campus (800) 343-9999 or www.peterpanbus.com overnight in the spring. Valley Transporter: (800)872-8752 or www.valleytransporter.com Seemo Shuttle: (800) 908-2829 or www.seemoshuttle.com

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93 •S. Deerfield VT NH

95 • 91 Albany 2 495 202 MA Amherst College 87 90 • •Amherst 290 •Boston Northampton University of Massachusetts •South Hadley • •Worcester 95 91 47 116 9 •Amherst Springfield• 3 24 9 Amherst College NY 84 Smith College •Hadley •Providence • RI Northampton• •Hartford 116 66 95 •New Bedford • CT 395 Hampshire College 84 91 Easthampton• 47 S. Hadley 202 •New Haven 10 • NY • 21 95 Mt. Holyoke College

•Holyoke •New York City

BY CAR FROM EAST/WEST BY CAR FROM NORTH/SOUTH BY CAR FROM NORTHEAST In downtown Amherst, turn left on (RHODE ISLAND, BOSTON, HARVARD, BROWN) (NEW YORK, DARTMOUTH, T RINITY, (MAINE, BATES, BOWDOIN, COLBY) South Pleasant Street. Continue for From Brown take Rt. 146 north/west MIDDLEBURY, W ESLEYAN, W ILLIAMS, YALE) From Bates take I-495 south to two blocks to the stoplight at the to I-90 west. From Williams take Rte. 2 east to I-95 south. intersection with Rte. 116. Proceed Take I-90 (Mass Turnpike) to Exit 4 I-91 south. Take I-95 south to I-495 south. straight through the light (you’ll now (I-91). From Middlebury take Rte. 7 south Take I-495 south to Exit 29B be on Rte. 116 south) and follow Take I-91 north to Exit 19 (Rte. 9). to Rte. 103 south to I-91 south. (Rte. 2 west). directions to the Admission OGce Follow Rte. 9 east about six miles. Take I-91 to Exit 19 from south, or Take Rte. 2 west to Rte. 202 south. on previous page. When you reach the stoplight at the Exit 20 from north. Follow Rte. 9 Take Rte. 202 south to Amherst Rd. top of a hill, turn right onto Rte. 116 east about six miles. When you reach in Pelham. Turn right. PUBLISHER AMHERST COLLEGE OFFICE OF ADMISSION south and follow directions to the the stoplight at the top of a hill, turn Take Amherst Rd. toward Amherst. C R EAT IV E DIRECTION AND DESIGN PLAINSPOKE Admission OGce on previous page. right onto Rte. 116 south and follow (The road changes names to Pelham TEXT JILL JASUTA directions to the Admission OGce on Rd. and then to Main Street.) PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY JOEL HASKELL ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY FRANK WARD, SAMUEL previous page. MASINTER ’04, J IM GIPE, BOB K RIST, ROB MAT TSON PRINTING UNIVERSAL | WILDE –W ESTWOOD, MA

434970.P65.70.CS6.indd 70 8/26/13 7:39 PM The Mission of Amherst College Terras Irradient “Let them give light to the world.” 1821 Amherst College educates men and women of excep- tional potential from all backgrounds so that they may seek, value, and advance knowledge, engage the world around them, and lead principled lives of consequence. Amherst brings together the most promising students, whatever their financial need, in order to promote diversity of experience and ideas within a purposefully small residential community. Working with faculty, staff, and administrators dedicated to intellectual free- dom and the highest standards of instruction in the lib- eral arts, Amherst undergraduates assume substantial responsibility for undertaking inquiry and for shaping their education within and beyond the curriculum. Amherst College is committed to learning through close colloquy and to expanding the realm of knowledge through scholarly research and artistic creation at the highest level. Its graduates link learning with leader- ship-in service to the College, to their communities, and to the world beyond.

434970.COVER.CS6.indd 3 8/23/13 7:12 AM office of admission po box 5000 amherst, ma 01002-5000 www.amherst.edu

august 2013

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